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19-year-old Italian tennis sensation Jannik Sinner has won the 'Exploit of the Year' award from Italian sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport for his incredible season on the ATP tour in 2020. Sinner accepted the honor in a virtual ceremony, and expressed hope of continuing in the same vein next season.
Jannik Sinner reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time in his career at the French Open this year. He scored impressive wins over the No. 11 seed David Goffin and the No. 6 seed Alexander Zverev to reach the last eight, where he was beaten by Rafael Nadal (who went on to win his record-extending 13th Roland Garros title).
Then in November, Jannik Sinner won the first ATP tour title of his young career at the Sofia Open in Bulgaria. On the back of these strong results, Sinner ended the year as World No. 37 - making him the youngest player in the top 100 of the ATP rankings.
Many have predicted a bright future for the young Italian, including Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. And Jannik Sinner asserted during the virtual ceremony that he is keen to make good on his potential by playing as many matches as possible going forward.
“I hope to get off to a good start to the 2021 season at the Australian Open and play and play as many match as possible next year," Jannik Sinner said. "I will have many ups and downs, but I hope to play many good matches, like the quarterfinal against Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros."
Lorenzo Sonego's shock win over Novak Djokovic in Vienna earns him Special 2020 Award
Meanwhile, Jannik Sinner's compatriot Lorenzo Sonego won the Special 2020 award for his shock upset win over Novak Djokovic at the ATP Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
Sonego, now ranked No. 33 in the world, demolished the Serbian tennis champion 6-2, 6-1 in the Vienna quarterfinals for the biggest win of his career thus far. He went on to reach the final of the tournament, going down to Russian Andrey Rublev.
“I did not expect to beat Novak Djokovic," Lorenzo Sonego stated while receiving the award virtually. "I tried to remain focused but I saw that everything I did worked very well. I felt so emotional after the match, that I don’t remember what journalists asked me during the post-match interview. I will try to improve my English. It could be useful for future wins."
In 2020 Sonego also reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career, at the French Open in October.
