The Argentine teen who broke the world No. 1's winning streak
In short: In 2026, Juan Manuel Cerúndolo achieved the unthinkable. Down by 1–5 in the third and two sets behind, he fought back to defeat world No. 1 Jannik Sinner at the French Open. It wasn't just a personal victory; it shattered a dominant era of tennis history.
Cerúndolo's rise is defined by historic 'firsts' for Argentine tennis. In 2021, at just 19 years old, he became the first player from South America to qualify for the Next Generation ATP Finals. That same year, he won the Córdoba Open as a qualifier, becoming the first player to win a title in their debut ATP event since 2004. Entering the top 100 during October 2021, he was the initial South American to join the rankings before 20 years old since Juan Martín del Potro in 2006.
His career has been a study in resilience against physical setbacks. After a promising 2021, a series of leg and hip injuries forced him to skip the entire 2022 grass season and several clay tournaments, causing his ranking to drop out of the top 130. He eventually fought back to reach a career-high ranking of world No. 42 in June 2026, punctuated by a significant victory over Casper Ruud at the 2025 Swiss Open.
The pinnacle of his career came during the 2026 French Open. A win against Jannik Sinner concluded a sequence of nine straight major trophies claimed by Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, starting from the 2024 Australian Open. The match lasted 5 hours and 58 minutes, making it the longest match at the French Open since 2020 and the longest since the introduction of the super tiebreak in 2022. Such an achievement also represented the initial occasion that the current world No. 1 did not advance past the tournament's third round since Andre Agassi in 2000.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Juan Manuel Cerúndolo
- Also: Wikidata — Juan Manuel Cerúndolo · CC0
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