Terence Atmane, King Pokemon Collector, Gifts Sinner a Birthday Card
You can’t make this stuff up. No, we’re not talking about World No.136 Terence Atmane making the semifinals of a Masters 1000 event, though that was pretty startling. We’re talking about the 23-year-old Frenchman’s Pokemon fetish, and the cool gesture he made on Saturday, before his semifinal with World No.1 Jannik Sinner in Cincinnati.
He took time before the players took the court, to take Sinner aside and present him with a little gift.
According to reporters, Atmane has one of the biggest Pokemon collections in France, though we have no way of verifying that.
Here’s a look at some of his “babies”.
Atmane says he thought about what to do for Sinner, whom he does not know very well, for his birthday, and the idea quickly came to him, because he had some of his cards with him in Cincinnati. It’s just how he rolls, we guess.
”It’s his birthday today, so I had to give him a little something,” Atmane said. “So I was like, ‘Okay, so I
was thinking last night about what should I give it to him. So I was thinking, and I was like, but
wait, I think I still have some Pokemon cards that I brought from France. So I was like, Okay,
why not give him just a Pokemon card?”
Atmane was a sensation this week in Cincinnati, coming through qualies and defeating two Top-10 players to reach his maiden Masters semifinal. He also defeated Flavio Cobolli and Joao Fonseca along the way. He will rise to a career-high ranking of No.69.
Sinner gladly accepted the gift, but showed no mercy for Atmane on court, defeating the Frenchman 7-6(4) 6-2.
“It was a nice moment to share with him before a match,” Sinner said. “And you know, he’s an incredible player. He showed this not only today, but throughout the whole, the whole tournament here. He has huge, huge potential. And I wish him only the best, obviously.”
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