Jannik Sinner didn't have the best performance against Carlos Alcaraz in the 2024 Roland Garros semi-final, and he struggled with cramps on top of all of that.
It wasn't a very good day at the office for Sinner on Friday as the Italian suffered a pretty upsetting loss against Alcaraz in the semi-final of the season's second major. It was a fairly decent match at times but neither really impressed with their level overall.
Both also struggled with cramps, especially Sinner, who admitted to it after the match but also acknowledged that he handled them far better than he used to in the past.
It was a high-stakes match, which was nerve-wracking, against a tough opponent who was ready to battle in the sun for hours, which is what happened.
"Tension and after, cramps a little bit. I handled these situations a little bit better now. I had previous years a couple of, you know, of these kind of moments where I couldn't handle them."
The Italian also denied that this loss had anything to do with his recent hip injury, explaining that the hip was relatively fine. Indeed, Sinner didn't seem to have any problems moving, but he didn't play as freely as he could.
There was a lot of tension, and the play could have been better, which likely had to do with the cramps. Overall, though, it was still a really good event for Sinner, whose consolation prize will become world number one on Monday, even though it was his first loss at a Grand Slam in 2024.
Whatever happens in the final doesn't matter in terms of his ranking, as he's set to take over from Novak Djokovic, who spent the entirety of the year so far as world number one. It's not a bad way to go into the summer and likely arrive at Wimbledon.