John McEnroe makes Novak Djokovic claim after Jannik Sinner’s shock French Open exit

The French Open has been blown wide open (Picture: Getty)

Jannik Sinner’s shock French Open exit has blown the men’s tournament wide open – and John McEnroe believes Novak Djokovic is primed to take advantage.

Sinner entered this tournament as the heaviest favourite for the men’s title since Rafael Nadal in 2009 given his superb start to the clay season as well as the withdrawal of defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.

But the Italian’s aim to complete the career Grand Slam in Paris came to a shuddering halt on Thursday as he suffered a five-set defeat to Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round.

Sinner raced into a two-set lead and was 5-1 up in the third set before illness and the punishing heat at Roland Garros appeared to hamper the World No.1.

Cerundolo reeled off five consecutive games to win the third set 7-5 before winning both the fourth and fifth sets by a comfortable 6-1 margin to complete the biggest win of his career.

And in the process, the Argentine, who now faces a third-round encounter against Martin Landaluce or Vit Kopriva, has blown the men’s tournament wide open for the rest of the field.

Hoping to take advantage more than most is Djokovic, who has spent the last two years trying to win a 25th Grand Slam title that would move him past Margaret Court to take sole possession of the all-time record.

2026 French Open - Day Five — Juan Manuel Cerundolo knocked out heavy favourite Jannik Sinner over five sets (Picture: Getty)

The Serbian beat France’s Valentin Royer over four sets to punch his ticket to the third round where he faces a tricky encounter against 19-year-old Joao Fonseca.

But seven-time Grand Slam champion McEnroe believes Djokovic already looks in the groove and ready to take advantage of Sinner’s early exit.

‘I think his level is pretty high,’ McEnroe told TNT Sports.

‘Explain to me how this guy does it when he doesn’t play at all between majors? He comes out and it’s as if he didn’t miss a beat.

Men's French Open odds after Jannik Sinner's shock exit

Alexander Zverev – 7/4
Novak Djokovic – 7/2
Casper Ruud – 6/1
Rafael Jodar – 13/2
Alex De Minaur – 16/1
Francisco Cerundolo – 16/1
Joao Fonseca – 20/1
Flavio Cobolli – 25/1
Ben Shelton – 25/1
Andrey Rublev – 33/2
Stefanos Tsitsipas – 33/1
Learner Tien – 33/1
BAR – 50/1

*Odds provided by BOYLE Sports (subject to change)

‘I know he doesn’t care much about the other tournaments anymore but it feels like you have to play some of them, but for him he doesn’t have to… he’s defying time.’

Asked about Djokovic’s upcoming match against Fonseca on Friday, McEnroe added: ‘I’m picking Djokovic to win but I think that’s one of the biggest moments of Fonseca’s career so far and will open him up.

‘He has so much expectation and it’s such a great result for him. This is big for him.’

2026 French Open - Day Four — Novak Djokovic is one of several contenders looking to take advantage of Sinner’s early exit (Picture: Getty)

Meanwhile, speaking after his second-round defeat, Sinner insisted he had no regrets about his busy schedule leading into the French Open, which saw him compete in both the Madrid and Italian Open already this month.

‘I mean, if I don’t play Madrid or if I don’t play Rome, maybe I come here and I still have a day like this where you feel sick,’ he said.

‘So looking back, it’s always very tough. I won three tournaments on clay. Incredible results. It’s an amazing streak I’ve had. Of course, in the beginning of the year, this is my main goal here.

‘A very early exit was not what I was looking for, but you also don’t know if things would have changed if I would maybe skip Madrid and play only Rome or maybe skipping Rome and come here. You never know.’

Asked about his condition on the court, Sinner added: ‘I struggled and started to feel very dizzy, very low on energy. I tried to serve it out but didn’t have a lot of energy. In the fourth set, I let it go a little bit trying to have a bit more energy in the fifth. The first one was a very important game and I couldn’t hold. Then it went a bit downwards.

‘I woke up this morning, didn’t feel very well and tried to keep the points very short. Also in the beginning I was hitting very clean, very good, and then I just kind of hit the wall, and that’s it.’

‘It was a tough spot to be in. But, again, this is the sport. It was warm but not crazy warm. I feel like it was quite OK to play. Really it was nothing against the heat, nothing against the weather. It was just me today, but it happens.’

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John McEnroe makes Novak Djokovic claim after Jannik Sinner’s shock French Open exit

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