One roof closes and another does not- a tale of two stadiums

It’s not every day that the No.1 seed in a Grand Slam tournament leads two sets to love, serves for the match at 5-1 in the third against an unseeded opponent and loses. Yet, it has happened today at the French Open. Jannik Sinner, who has swept all before him this year cramped at 5-1 and lost the last three sets 5-7 1-6 1-6, to Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo, a player whose highest ranking is No.54.

How history repeats! Well, partially. At this year’s Australian Open Sinner was cramping badly in his third-round match against America’s Eliot Spizziri and lost the first set. The tournament’s heat policy was invoked, the stadium’s roof was closed mid-match and Sinner recovered to win. In Paris the roof was not closed and Sinner, more used to alpine climes, imploded.

Sinner's fate is not unlike politics: one twist of fate, one unexpected occurrence -Paris is rarely as hot in May as it has been this week-, one adverse reaction and dominance instantly evaporates. The Tudor monarch Queen Mary commented that when she died people would find Calais written on her heart, referring to the English loss of the port of Calais to the French. For this one failure, her unpopularity was forever sealed. Will Australian Treasurer, Jim Chalmer's political epitaph begin with reference to CGT and his seemingly increasingly unpopular changes to the country’s Capital Gains Tax policy?

In the absence of Alcaraz, the tournament appeared to be Sinner’s for the taking. It still seems remarkable that he could not eke out one more game in the third set.

Who now claims the title? Could either Zverev or Casper Ruud finally win a maiden Grand Slam title? Let’s not forget the lurking Djokovic still searching for his 25^th Grand Slam title. Or will the champion be an unexpected new champion as Mats Wilander was in 1982 and Bjorn Borg in 1978?

In the Women’s Draw, Rybakina and Pegula have already lost and a trinity of Ukrainian players have advanced, led by Svitolina. Swiatek must, however, be considered the favourite to claim a fifth French title.

We only have just over a week to honour our new champions. The world it seems has many more weeks before resolution of the war in Iran is achieved.  And many more months before the war’s economic legacies fade.

For the moment, Sinner’s dramatic fadeout is as astonishing as it is unexpected. For unfortunate reasons, Sinner has another reason to be forever remembered in the game’s annals.