06/07/2026
Sinner and Sabalenka meltdowns have made it a French Open full of surprises
The 2026 French Open has delivered a historic fortnight of shocks and surprises, heavily defined by the astonishing collapses of top-seeded stars Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka. For the first time in forty-nine years, a Grand Slam semifinal round will feature zero former major champions, completely blowing the draws wide open in Paris. Top-ranked Sinner saw his phenomenal thirty-match winning streak melt away during an opening week heat wave. Struggling with severe dizziness, the Italian crumbled to a second-round defeat against world number fifty-six Juan Manuel Cerundolo, losing eighteen of the final twenty games. Days later, world number one Sabalenka suffered an equally baffling mental meltdown during her quarterfinal clash against Diana Shnaider. Despite leading 6-3, 4-1, the heavily favored Sabalenka spiritually vanished from the court, dropping ten consecutive games to tumble into what she described as a very deep dark hole.
