Francisco Cerundolo’s statement perfectly summarizes what it feels like to play Jannik Sinner

Francisco Cerundolo says he realized that playing well against Jannik Sinner may not have much impact on the score, as the world number 21 claims he felt he played very well against the Italian but then won only one game during a set.

In late November, Cerundolo won his first two Paris Masters matches before Sinner handed him a 7-5 61 defeat. It was the sixth meeting between the two and the four-time Grand Slam champion leads their head-to-head match 4-2. On paper, achieving two victories over the Italian is remarkable. However, it should be noted that Argentina’s victories over the current world number 2 came in 2022 in Miami and 2023 in Rome.

Speaking to Tennis365, Cerundolo acknowledged that Sinner was more playable a few years ago. But now it is a completely different case.

Cerundolo: I felt like I played well against Sinner, then won one game in the second set

“I played well, but I lost the first set 7-5 and then it was 6-1. To be honest, I felt like I played well and you get one game in the set. He’s always there. His serve is great, his return is incredible and then, with the points at the baseline, he hits the ball very hard and you don’t have time. I didn’t know what to do in Paris. He’s improved a lot. Two years ago he might not have been so good physically and if you played long matches and long matches, points, he missed some balls. Now he doesn’t miss anything,” said the world number 21 Tennis365.

For the first time since 2021, Cerundolo finished a season without taking a single ATP title. Still, it was quite a season for the Argentinian, who finished second in Buenos Aires and also reached the semi-finals at the Madrid Masters, Munich and Bastad. The three-time ATP champion also reached back-to-back Masters quarterfinals in Indian Wells and Miami.

Cerundolo will enter 2026 as the 21st ranked player in the world – a ranking three places lower than his career-high ranking of No. 18 in the world.