{"id":452517,"date":"2026-05-30T09:55:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T09:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/452517\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T09:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T09:55:12","slug":"djokovics-french-open-loss-to-teenager-ensures-new-mens-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/452517\/","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic’s French Open loss to teenager ensures new men’s winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

There will be a new men\u2019s champion at the French Open after Novak Djokovic followed Jannik Sinner<\/a> out of Roland Garros in a five-set stunner today.<\/p>\n

Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca beat 24-time major winner Djokovic 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 in the third round to follow yesterday’s huge upset, when No. 1 Sinner \u2014 last year’s runner-up lost to 56th-ranked Juan Manuel Cerundolo.<\/p>\n

\u201cTen minutes after the match I could realize a little bit what I did, what I achieved,” the 19-year-old Fonseca said. \u201cHow difficult it was and how amazing it was for me.”<\/p>\n

Djokovic\u2019s latest quest for a record 25th Grand Slam was ended and it was just the second time he lost from two sets up, the other also coming in Paris in 2010.<\/p>\n

Along with veterans Marin Cilic and Stan Wawrinka, all the men’s major winners are out, thus guaranteeing that a new pair of hands will raise the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy aloft on June 7 on Court Philippe-Chatrier.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, Jannik and Djokovic out, there\u2019s more chances,\u201d said Fonseca, who next faces two-time runner-up Casper Ruud, who beat Tommy Paul 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 7-5.<\/p>\n

The 39-year-old Djokovic faded as the court slowed in the evening cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cTough one for me to lose,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cI was barely standing on my legs toward the end of the match.”<\/p>\n

In the final game, Djokovic had a break point for 6-6 but Fonseca served out with three consecutive aces and became the first teenager to beat Djokovic at a Grand Slam tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just enjoyed being on court and what a pleasure it was. It\u2019s my first stepping on court against him,\u201d Fonseca said. \u201cWe still think he\u2019s 20. At the end of the match I think he was more fit than me, that\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fonseca wished his mother in the crowd happy birthday and thanked all the Brazilians who turned up to watch.<\/p>\n

\"It<\/p>\n

It is unsure whether this will be Djokovic’s final French Open. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Djokovic doubts<\/p>\n

This wasn’t as big an upset as Sinner’s loss because Djokovic came to Paris with doubts.<\/p>\n

After he lost the Australian Open final to Carlos Alcaraz, a shoulder injury limited his clay-court buildup to one competitive match and Djokovic labored for at least three hours in each of his previous two rounds before facing the full fury of Fonseca’s booming forehand.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking everything in consideration and all the circumstances, I think the level was really good,” said Djokovic, whose last major title was the 2024 US Open.<\/p>\n

The heat that stressed Sinner also got to Djokovic, who applied ice packs on both sides of his face during changeovers. Djokovic snapped at a television camera operator for getting too close to his face at one point.<\/p>\n

By the fifth set he couldn’t hide his fatigue: He hunched over the advertising boards, his forearms dangling; slumped back in his chair with a towel on his head; grabbed his head with his hands.<\/p>\n

He was gracious in defeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him (after the match) that he deserved to win and he should be proud of himself,” Djokovic said. “We\u2019ve all seen today why there is hype around him.”<\/p>\n

Djokovic said he was unsure if he would play at the French Open next year, although he said the same after his semifinal defeat to Sinner last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There will be a new men\u2019s champion at the French Open after Novak Djokovic followed Jannik Sinner out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,97379,213,1745],"class_list":["post-452517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sport-news","tag-sports","tag-uk-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}