The Most Improved Player of the Year: Jannik Sinner
Italian 19-year-old rising star Jannik Sinner ended the 2019 season with the Next Gen title in Milan and picked up where he left off in 2020 with another great season. The player coached by Riccardo Piatti climbed to a career-high of world number 37 after winning his maiden ATP title in Sofia.
Jannik Sinner: “It’s always special when you win tournaments. Winning 7-6 in the third set is always tough. When you win, it is an even better win than winning 6-1 6-1”
Sinner beat Alexander Zverev en route to his first Grand Slam quarter final at Roland Garros in his debut at this tournament. In the quarter final Jannik played at the same level against Rafa Nadal in the first two sets, but the Spanish legend claimed the win in the third set. During the French Open Sinner was praised by former tennis legends Boris Becker and John McEnroe.
John McEnroe: “Jannik Is the most talented player I have seen in the last decade. He has the potential to win many Grand Slam titles. He will be soon in the top ten”.
At the Rome Masters 1000 tournament Sinner scored the biggest win of his career against Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach the third round as a wild card.
Sinner beat former top 10 David Goffin to reach his first ATP 500 quarter final in Rotterdam, but he lost to Pablo Carreno Busta after holding two match points.
At the Australian Open Sinner claimed the first Grand Slam main draw win of his career against Max Purcell but he lost to Marton Fucsovics in the second round.
The stars of the future
Lorenzo Musetti
Musetti, who won the Australian Open boy’s title in 2019, made his ATP Tour debut last February in Dubai, where he lost to Andrey Rublev in the first round.
Musetti entered the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome as the World Number 249 and dropped a set in two of his three qualifying matches. The Italian 18-year-old player went on to upset former top 10 players Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori in back-to-back matches to reach the third round for the first time in his career. Musetti became the youngest player to reach the third round in Rome since Frenchman Fabrice Santoro in 1991. Musetti lost in the third round against Germany’s Dominik Koepfer.
The Italian teenager carried the momentum winning his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Forlì and became the youngest semifinalist of the season at the Sardinia Open in Santa Margherita di Pula as a wild-card.
Carlos Alcaraz
Spanish rising star Carlos Alcaraz grabbed the headlines last February before his 17-year-old birthday, when he beat Albert Ramos Vinolas 7-6 (7-2) 4-6 7-6 (7-2) after 3 hours and 37 minutes in the ATP 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro in his debut on the ATP Tour at 3.00 local time.
Alcaraz went on to become the youngest player to win ATP Challenger Tour trophies in consecutive weeks in Barcelona and Alicante and the second youngest player to claim three titles in Challenger history. Only Richard Gasquet was younger, when he won his third title in Naples in 2003.
Alcaraz beat Musetti in the semifinal of the ATP Challenger in Trieste en route to winning his first Challenger title. The Spanish player coached by former world number 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero won two back-to-back titles in Barcelona (beating Damir Dzumhur in the final) and Alicante.
Alcaraz has ended the season with a record of 39 wins to just 7 defeats.
