Jannik Sinner readies for world No. 1 debut in Halle after homecoming celebration

HALLE, Germany—After a brief period of recharging, Jannik Sinner is gearing up to play his first match as ATP world No. 1 at a tournament that recognized his potential long before his ascent to the top.

On Thursday, the Australian Open champion was welcomed back to Halle with a congratulatory cake. Sinner is the first man from his nation to summit the men’s rankings since they were introduced in 1973.

But before beginning his grass-court season preparations, Sinner first returned to the place where his tennis dreams all began—Sexten, Italy—for a special homecoming to commemorate his two biggest on-court achievements to date.

“It was nice to share this moment with my little hometown. It was actually a funny story because I was supposed to do something with the kids after Australia,” Sinner told TENNIS.com Saturday.

“We set the date already for this, so I went home after Roland Garros when I also became No. 1. So we celebrated everything together. But it was more about spending time with the younger kids, having a connection. And it was nice to see my friends, my family, the kids. It was a good feeling.”

Five years ago, Terra Wortmann Open tournament director Ralf Weber awarded the then 17-year-old ranked outside the Top 200 a qualifying wild card. While the result didn’t go his way, the kind gesture has stuck with Sinner.

“This is a place where they believed in me, they gave me a wild card in qualies back in the day. So I'm happy to come back here and hopefully I can show some good tennis early on,” he shared with ATPTour.com’s Andy West.

“The first day you have to go through the movements on the surface and it's difficult, especially when you play the first rounds against players who played already on grass. They have a little bit of feeling.”

This is a place where they believed in me, they gave me a wild card in qualies back in the day. —Jannik Sinner

Sinner opens his campaign at the ATP 500 event against a knowledgeable grass-court competitor in Tallon Griekspoor. Last year, the Dutchman triumphed in 's-Hertogenbosch ahead of Halle, where he followed up his maiden ATP title by ousting Hubert Hurkacz en route to the quarterfinals.

Griekspoor won three matches in Den Bosch this week before seeing his title defense bid ended by Sebastian Korda in Saturday’s semifinals. Sinner has won their first four meetings, all on hard courts, with Griekspoor picking up his first set in the series during a third-round defeat at March’s Miami Open.