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'Paid the price': Emma Raducanu's coach blasts Sinners ban explaining the reason for his French Open final defeat

Originally posted on TennisUpToDate.com | By Jack Clucas | Last updated Jun 10, 2025 12:50 PM ET

Emma Raducanu’s coach, Mark Petchey, has weighed in on the debate as to why Sinner blew a two-set lead against Carlos Alcaraz in the final at Roland Garros. Petchey claimed that Sinner “paid the price” for his three-month ban earlier in the season, suggesting this could have been the reason for the world number one’s loss.

On Sunday, during a mammoth fixture against Carlos Alcaraz in the French Open final, Sinner failed to capitalise on his two-set lead against the Spaniard, faltering from his position of strength and allowing Alcaraz to complete a historic comeback. Coming off the back of two consecutive Major wins, Sinner’s victory appeared to be completely safe. In addition, Alcaraz was 0–8 in Majors after trailing by two sets, so the likelihood of a win for the Spaniard seemed highly unlikely.

Alcaraz started his incredible comeback after he recovered from a break down in the third set to win it and make the score 2-1, still very much in favour of Sinner to go on and win. In the next set, Sinner would once again fail to capitalise on his position of strength, losing three consecutive match points and keeping Alcaraz in the match. Sinner went on to lose his next service game, which allowed Alcaraz to take the set on his own serve. Alcaraz ended up defeating the 23-year-old 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2).

Mark Petchey had his say on the final in its entirety during his post match comments on TNT Sports "I think there is a lot of people who feel that he did not pay a price when he had his three months away from the game. He has not played a lot of big matches in recent months and I think the emotional toll, as well as he did to turn things around and make a revival in the fifth set, was crucial for him against someone like Carlos Alcaraz. I think that he has paid a pretty significant price in terms of not putting a third straight Grand Slam on his resume".

Following the loss, Sinner was calm and classy as ever, however, you could see the pain he felt from the toll it had taken on him. It will be intriguing to see how the Italian can bounce back from this, now having to fully focus on the upcoming grass swing. With Wimbledon just around the corner, there is no better time for Sinner to prove he deserves his spot at the top once again with a win at SW19.

This article first appeared on TennisUpToDate.com and was syndicated with permission.

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