Jannik Sinner
Flashback: Sinner’s first ATP Tour win & the impression he left… not simply on courtroom
Italian loved breakout season in 2019
April 24, 2026
Peter Bor/Hungarian Tennis Affiliation
Jannik Sinner earned his first ATP Tour win in 2019 in Budapest.
By Arthur Kapetanakis
5 years earlier than he joined the ATP No. 1 Membership in 2024, Jannik Sinner started his stand up the PIF ATP Rankings in earnest with a breakout 2019 season filled with milestone moments.
His first skilled singles title got here in February of that season, at an ATP Challenger Tour occasion on Italian soil in Bergamo. That began a 16-match profitable streak that garnered three titles throughout the Challenger and ITF ranges — a run that none apart from Carlos Alcaraz stopped that April in Alicante.
Later that month, Sinner achieved one other huge first on the age of 17: After receiving a qualifying wild card to the Budapest ATP 250 and ultimately coming into the principle draw as a fortunate loser, the Italian earned his first ATP Tour match win on 24 April, beating former junior World No. 1 Mate Valkusz.
With a cross-court forehand winner, he secured a 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 victory in a topsy-turvy encounter on the purple clay. Sinner’s understated response on match level — a refined look to his teaching field — was an early indication of the ice-cool demeanor that may finally assist him soar to No. 1 within the PIF ATP Rankings.
“They performed a reasonably unbelievable first-round match with balls mainly taking pictures from their racquets like a bullet,” stated match director Attila Richter, who granted Sinner a qualifying wild card. “Jannik wins ultimately, so he not solely will get his first wild card right into a Tour occasion, but additionally wins his first Tour match in Budapest in 2019.”
For all Sinner’s tennis expertise, it was an off-court gesture from the Italian that made the largest impression on Richter. After a defeat to Laslo Djere within the second spherical, the 17-year-old requested to talk to Richter. Whereas the match director completed an off-site obligation, Sinner waited an hour and a half together with his baggage in tow to personally thank him for the qualifying wild card.
“That kind of already then gave me the impression not solely seeing him enjoying tennis, but additionally it offers you that feeling that you’ve with Jannik additionally at present — what a very, very nice, good man he’s, how good he was raised and his manners,” Richter stated. “I keep in mind then considering to myself, ‘Nicely, if he turns into an excellent participant, he’ll be a famous person’, as a result of it is simply the character that he has.”
After Budapest, Sinner’s yr of firsts continued. In Might, he beat Steven Johnson in Rome to document his first ATP Masters 1000 victory, and he later made his Grand Slam main-draw debut on the US Open, efficiently qualifying earlier than falling to Stan Wawrinka in 4 first-round units.
Sinner closed the 2019 season by profitable the Subsequent Gen ATP Finals in Milan, beating Alex de Minaur within the closing. The Italian closed the yr at No. 78 within the PIF ATP Rankings, up from No. 551 initially of the season.
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