Jannik Sinner
Flashback: Sinner’s first ATP Tour win & the impression he left… not just on court
Italian enjoyed breakout season in 2019
April 24, 2026
Peter Bor/Hungarian Tennis Association
Jannik Sinner earned his first ATP Tour win in 2019 in Budapest.
By Arthur Kapetanakis
Five years before he joined the ATP No. 1 Club in 2024, Jannik Sinner began his rise up the PIF ATP Rankings in earnest with a breakout 2019 season full of milestone moments.
His first professional singles title came in February of that season, at an ATP Challenger Tour event on Italian soil in Bergamo. That started a 16-match winning streak that garnered three titles across the Challenger and ITF levels — a run that none other than Carlos Alcaraz stopped that April in Alicante.
Later that month, Sinner accomplished another big first at the age of 17: After receiving a qualifying wild card to the Budapest ATP 250 and eventually entering the main draw as a lucky 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 red clay. Sinner’s understated reaction on match point — a subtle look to his coaching box — was an early indication of the ice-cool demeanor that would ultimately help him soar to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
“They played a pretty incredible first-round match with balls basically shooting from their racquets like a bullet,” said tournament director Attila Richter, who granted Sinner a qualifying wild card. “Jannik wins in the end, so he not only gets his first wild card into a Tour event, but also wins his first Tour match in Budapest in 2019.”
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For all Sinner’s tennis talent, it was an off-court gesture from the Italian that made the biggest impression on Richter. After a defeat to Laslo Djere in the second round, the 17-year-old asked to speak to Richter. While the tournament director finished an off-site obligation, Sinner waited an hour and a half with his luggage in tow to personally thank him for the qualifying wild card.
“That sort of already then gave me the impression not only seeing him playing tennis, but also it gives you that feeling that you have with Jannik also today — what a really, really nice, nice guy he is, how good he was raised and his manners,” Richter said. “I remember then thinking to myself, ‘Well, if he becomes a good player, he’ll be a superstar’, because it’s just the personality that he has.”
After Budapest, Sinner’s year of firsts continued. In May, he beat Steven Johnson in Rome to record his first ATP Masters 1000 victory, and he later made his Grand Slam main-draw debut at the US Open, successfully qualifying before falling to Stan Wawrinka in four first-round sets.
Sinner closed the 2019 season by winning the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, beating Alex de Minaur in the final. The Italian closed the year at No. 78 in the PIF ATP Rankings, up from No. 551 at the start of the season.