PARIS (AP) 鈥� and his 30-match winning streak melted away during the opening week鈥檚 .
had just as astonishing a mental meltdown during a quarterfinal defeat in which she described finding herself in a 鈥渧ery deep, deep, dark hole.鈥�
No former major champions reached the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 semifinals for the first time at a Grand Slam in 49 years.
The that concludes this weekend has been unlike any other major tournament in recent memory.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always exciting when crazy things happen,鈥� said Madison Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion who reached the fourth round. 鈥淎s a tennis fan, it鈥檚 been fun to watch.鈥�
Here鈥檚 a look at some of the more surprising developments that have characterized Roland Garros this year:
Heat wave
With the temperature rising to at least 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) every day of the first week, players struggled to keep cool.
After edged Mariano Navone in a fifth-set tiebreaker in the second round, he cramped up and fell to the clay after match point and required medical attention on the court. He was eventually pushed away in a wheelchair.
Mensik bounced back to reach the semifinals, where he lost to , who will meet in Sunday鈥檚 final.
Two-time runner-up Casper Ruud was on the verge of passing out during a five-set win over Roman Safiullin in the first round, saying he felt 鈥渓ike a zombie almost.鈥�
Ruud conceded the fourth set 6-0 鈥渢o get my pulse and body temperature down鈥� to see if he could recover in the fifth: “Luckily that ended up working.鈥�
had to literally drench the clay courts with water at night to keep them from drying out during the day.
Still, the heat made for entirely different conditions from normal: the pace of play was faster and balls were bouncing higher.
Sinner 鈥榟it the wall鈥�
Already without two-time defending champion , who missed the tournament with an injured right wrist, it was a shock when Sinner wasted a two-set and 5-1 lead in the third against 56th-ranked Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round.
The top-ranked Sinner came to Paris on a 29-match winning streak and was an overwhelming favorite for the title. But the Italian said he when he needed to win just one more game against Cerundolo.
Sinner won just two of the next 18 games as he struggled to cool himself with bags of ice and a hand-held fan on changeovers.
鈥淚 just kind of hit the wall,鈥� Sinner said.
Djokovic wasted a 2-set lead, too
A day later it was a match for the ages when and lost to .
Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion, also had physical issues on another hot day.
鈥淚 was barely standing on my legs toward the end of the match,鈥� he said.
Fonseca beat Ruud in the next round before his breakthrough performance ended with a loss to Mensik in the quarterfinals.
Sabalenka wants to 鈥榪uit tennis鈥� after loss
Sabalenka was leading 4-1 in the second set of her quarterfinal with Diana Shnaider and was within two points of victory when she proceeded to lose 12 of 13 games.
Sabalenka said later that she wants 鈥渢o quit tennis right now.
鈥淵ou know those rooms where you just go in and you smash everything,鈥� she added. 鈥淧robably I will spend a whole day tomorrow over there destroying stuff. Maybe it will help. Maybe not.鈥�
Shnaider then went on to lose in the semifinals to Maja Chwalinska, who became .
Chwalinska was facing Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva for the title Saturday.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know when was the last time that happened to me that I lost 10 games in a row,鈥� Sabalenka said. 鈥淢entally I got into a very deep, deep, dark hole. 鈥� I just couldn鈥檛 get back mentally on track.鈥�
A new champion
The 14th-ranked Flavio Cobolli reached his first Grand Slam final with the help of a retirement and withdrawal by two fellow .
Matteo Berrettini retired due to a left hip injury with Cobolli leading 7-5, 5-2 in their quarterfinal and then Matteo Arnaldi withdrew before their semifinal because of a virus.
Zverev will be playing in his fourth major final on Sunday as he seeks an elusive Grand Slam title to conclude this wacky tournament.
Whoever raises the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy will become the first man other than Alcaraz, Sinner, Djokovic or Rafael Nadal to win a Grand Slam since at the 2021 U.S. Open.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had so many long eras of these four people are the only people that we think are going to win,” Keys said. 鈥淢akes the sport interesting, at least.鈥�
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