SINNER’S RISE UP THE SLOPE WILL CONTINUE WITH HEAD

The Italian player signs a new long-term contract that will keep him with his racquet manufacturer for several more years

The world’s fourth-best male tennis player Jannik Sinner has extended his contract with his racquet maker HEAD with a new multi-year deal.

Sinner, 22, is enjoying the highest ranking of his career after winning three events this year, including his first Masters-1000 title in Toronto, and reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final where he lost an all-HEAD match to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.

Sinner was identified early as a great prospect. He won the 2019 ATP NextGen (under-21) title in Milan, and reached the top 100 in the world rankings just 20 months after winning his first ranking points. He really came to the world’s attention with his run to the final in Miami in 2021, and won his first Masters-1000 title in Toronto this year, the eighth tour-level title of his career. At the start of 2023 he began working with the Australian coach Darren Cahill, and the results are bearing fruit with breaking into the world’s top five.

Ottmar Barbian, executive vice-president of HEAD’s racquet sports division, said, “We have a very special relationship with Jannik. The two sports in which he has excelled are central to the HEAD brand, so there’s a highly unusual connection between the company and him. We have taken great pride in watching his rise up the rankings, and his first Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon this year. We are delighted that he has committed his future to HEAD, and we are excited about the coming peak years of Jannik’s career.”

Sinner is thought to be the only tennis player to have had a contract with his racquet provider in two sports.

The German-speaking Italian grew up close to HEAD’s headquarters, just across the border in the Alto Adige region of northern Italy, also known as South Tyrol. He grew up speaking German at home and Italian at school – and with the area known as a hotbed of skiing, that was his first sport.

Despite starting with tennis at age 7, young Jannik was a champion skier in Italian junior competitions from 8 to 12, and he used HEAD skis. Then at 12 he decided to focus on tennis, and at 13 he left home to train with the respected coach Riccardo Piatti in Bordighera on Italy’s coastal border with France. But HEAD stuck with Sinner, switching skis for racquets, and the Italian star has played with HEAD all his life. He currently endorses the HEAD Speed range of racquets.

Sinner was recruited by the ‘Team HEAD’ programme when he was a junior. The programme allows HEAD’s local units to scout and build strong relationships with promising young players, often giving them equipment that they might not otherwise be able to afford.