Terence Atmane surprises birthday boy Jannik Sinner with Pokemon gift ahead of SF in Cincinnati

Cincinnati

Atmane surprises birthday boy Sinner with Pokemon gift ahead of SF in Cincinnati

World No. 136 gave Sinner a card from his collection in the tunnel

ATP Media Terence Atmane gives Jannik Sinner a birthday gift ahead of their semi-final clash in Cincinnati. By ATP Staff

Terence Atmane brought a lighthearted touch to an otherwise high-stakes occasion before his semi-final clash with World No. 1 Jannik Sinner on Saturday at the Cincinnati Open.

The No. 136 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Atmane is an avid fan of the Japanese trading card game Pokémon. While waiting in the tunnel ahead of their Centre Court showdown, the Frenchman surprised Sinner — who is celebrating his 24th birthday today — by gifting him a card from his collection.

“I was talking to him a little bit in the locker room. He has one of the biggest collections of Pokemon cards, and I’m very lucky that I got one of his ones,” Sinner told Tennis Channel. “It was just a nice moment before a match, we didn’t know each other at all. So, it was a nice moment.”

The gesture drew smiles from both players, who shared an embrace before walking out to court in their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

“It was a kind of Pikachu… It said 30 damage to itself, so I don’t know if that is good or not,” Sinner said of the card with a laugh.

With his run to the semi-final, which includes consecutive Top-10 wins over Taylor Fritz and Holger Rune, Atmane is up 67 spots to a career-high No. 69 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. Meanwhile, defending champion Sinner is riding a 25-match winning streak on hard courts, further underscoring the scale of Atmane’s challenge.

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