Clothing sponsor ASICS has signed up 2020 Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek and Hugo Gaston with the goal to promote a new generation of tennis players.
Polish rising star Iga Swiatek claimed her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros at the age of 19 becoming the first player from her country to win a Grand Slam title. She was the youngest women’s singles champion at the French Open since Monica Seles in 1992.
The Polish teenager, who won the Wimbledon Junior title in 2018, beat Marketa Vondrousova in the opening round and top seed Simona Halep, who was on a 17-match win streak. Swiatek beat Sofia Kenin in the final to become the lowest ranked French Open champion in the history of the WTA Ranking. Swiatek was the first Polish player to reach a Grand Slam final since Agnieszka Radwanska at Wimbledon in 2012.
Swiatek rose from world number 54 to number 17 in the world after her win in the French Open final.
Swiatek also reached the French Open semifinal in the doubles tournament teaming up with Nicole Melichar.
“Iga is set to become one of the faces of the 2021 season. We started working with Iga this year and partnered with her because we saw such a huge potential, and we thought we could support her on what is sure to be an exciting and long career. We could not be prouder of what she has achieved in such a difficult year. Iga, like all of all our athletes will be involved in product development. We have already great conversations where she has provided insight into where we should innovate for the next season. She is a great ambassador of our philosophy of “Sound Mind in a sound Body. She will have a big role in product development with us, we can’t share too much just yet but we are excited with the ideas she has already”, said Rene Zanbergen, Senior Manager of ASICS Footwear.
ASICS has also signed up with French Next Gen star Hugo Gaston, who beat Stan Wawrinka in five sets to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros before losing to Dominic Thiem in another five set match. Gaston broke into top 200 and achieved a career-high number 157 in the ATP Ranking on 12 October. Gaston reached his first ATP Challenger in Bergamo last February.
“We believe in supporting the next generation. You may have seen many ASICS on the court at Roland Garros this year, with Hugo Gaston playing very well and with Dominic Stricker, the winner of the junior event. We have a great group of Next Gen and Junior players who are excited to support in their developing career”, said Zanbergen.
