Jannik Sinner joins Roger Federer in Rolex tennis family

Becoming the Official Timekeeper of The Championships at Wimbledon in 1978, Rolex has been involved in the tennis world for more than four decades, supporting the most prestigious tournaments, players and organizations throughout the planet. Cooperating with the Australian Open and the US Open (since 2018), Rolex replaced Longines as the official timekeeper at Roland Garros as well, "completing" all four Majors and working with other notable events like the Rolex Shanghai Masters, the Laver Cup, the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters, the ATP Finals, Indian Wells, the Davis Cup Finals and others. Stefanos Tsitsipas, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Grigor Dimitrov, Dominic Thiem, Milos Raonic, Kyle Edmund and Juan Martin del Potro are among the most prominent players under the Rolex brand, together with the 20-time Major champion Roger Federer who has been their most recognized athlete for years.

An 18-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner is the latest tennis star to embrace and spread the name of Rolex, signing a deal and becoming the global ambassador. Ranked 75th, Jannik is the youngest player in the top-300, embracing a breakthrough run in 2019 where he gained almost 500 places on the ATP list to become the fifth U18 player in the year-end top-100 after Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Denis Shapovalov. Born in a village in the Dolomites, Jannik was a promising skier before choosing tennis as his primary sport, making a professional debut in 2018 when he reached the first Futures final. After a slow start of 2019 in Tunisia, a tall youngster who works with Riccardo Piatti and Andrea Volpini advanced into the semi-final of the Aktobe Futures before heading home to Bergamo, claiming the first Challenger crown on the fast indoor court after dropping only 14 games in the last three encounters!

It was the first Challenger crown for 2001 generation and Jannik didn't stop there, conquering the trophy at Trento Futures in the following week to wrap up the entire fortnight. After a much-needed rest, Sinner went to Santa Margherita Di Pula and claimed another Futures title, this time on clay, rattling off 16 straight victories before scoring the first ATP win in Budapest at the end of April as a qualifier. Jannik was also the finalist of the strong Challenger in Ostrava, securing further progress through the rankings ahead of home Masters 1000 event in Rome where he became the first player of his generation with a win at that level, ousting Steve Johnson in a tight third set for another milestone. Sinner earned a place in the main draw in Lyon and s-Hertogenbosch, gathering more experience on the ATP Tour ahead of North American hard-court swing that saw him winning Lexington Challenger and qualifying for the main draw at the US Open, losing to Stan Wawrinka in four sets.

The semi-finalist of the ATP 250 event in Antwerp, the Italian cracked the top-100 for the first time after one victory at the ATP 500 event in Vienna, earning another achievement for his generation and gathering momentum ahead of the Next Gen Finals in Milan. Jannik was the player to beat in front of the home fans, dominating the field despite being the youngest competitor and defeating Alex de Minaur in the title match to confirm the status of the upcoming star. A week later, Sinner wrapped up the season in Ortisei, delivering another high-quality performance on an indoor court to celebrate the third Challenger title of the season, becoming the youngest player to achieve that since Richard Gasquet. The young Italian has won three matches on the Tour so far in 2020, delivering the first Major triumph in Melbourne and advancing into the quarter-final in Rotterdam, seeing many more notable results in the rest of the year. 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Tlvy4Z