Jannik Sinner rues lack of recovery time after shock exit from French Open: 'I played a lot and didn't have...'

World No 1 Jannik Sinner cited fatigue as the reason for his stunning second-round defeat at the hands of Argentina's Juan Manuel Cerundolo at the French Open on Thursday. The Italian had arrived in Paris as the hot favourite to win his maiden Roland Garros title and complete a career Grand Slam at the age of 24 in the process.

Sinner, however, was seen struggling with his fitness after going two sets up and leading 5-1 in the third, witnessing the game slip out of his grasp and eventually suffer a 3-6 2-6 7-5 6-1 6-1 defeat at the hands of the 56th-ranked player in the world.

Speaking at the press conference following his shock exit from Roland Garros, where he finished runner-up last year, Sinner revealed that his lack of energy at Court Philippe-Chatrier on Thursday was due to several factors, including a long clay-court season.

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"In general, many things came together... I played a lot and I didn't have a lot of time to recover," Sinner told reporters after his second-round exit. "I came here, first match, really good, really solid... even though I finished late, but not crazy late.

"This morning I didn't sleep well. When I woke up, I was struggling a bit, but this can happen. Usually in Grand Slams you have a couple of days where you don't feel perfect.

"That was today," he continued.

Sinners opens up on his struggles with heat

The 24-year-old also opened up on struggling in the scorching conditions in the French capital, which is an unusually warm summer this year with the temperature going as high as 34 degrees Celsius this week.

Sinner, for one, is known to struggle in such conditions and was seen taking lengthy breaks after each set in the second round, even calling for a medical timeout at one point.

"Shanghai (in October) was very tough. The humidity was high," Sinner said, mentioning the Shanghai Masters in which he was forced to retired in his third-round match due to cramps.

"Australia was very warm (this year), I remember. It's different when you play on hardcourts, because the heat also comes from underneath," Sinner explained.

"Here, it was warm, but it was okay. It wasn't like I was dying because of the heat. Today, it was a completely different scenario, but this can happen.

"It's tough to accept, of course, because of the position I've been in and everything considered, but now I have a lot of time to recover," he continued.

After a busy clay-court season, in which he won titles at the Monte Carlo Masters as well as the Madrid and Italian Open, Sinner is eyeing an extended break in the build-up to his title defence at Wimbledon by skipping all grass-court tune-up events.

"I won't play any tournament on grass before (Wimbledon), most likely. I need really some time off to recover completely, also mentally, and then be ready to go again," Sinner signed off.