Izyan Ahmad, also known as Zizou, a young tennis player that challenged Federer to a match half a decade ago, and got his wish granted this year, reacted to Roger’s retirement announcement in a Barilla ad. “My heart is heavy.
But I wanted to thank you for keeping your pinky promise and play with me. Thank you for being the GOAT on and off the court,” Zizou says in the ad. Pasta brand Barilla, long-time sponsors of Roger Federer, released a new ad showing different people Federer has worked with (for past commercials) cooking pasta using tennis rackets.
Among them are Coco Gauff, Federer’s “pinky promise” Zizou, chef Davide Oldani, rooftop tennis players Carola and Vittoria, and world skiing champion Mikaela Shiffrin. Besides them, owner of the Barilla Group, Luca Barilla, also appears in the ad.
“Grazie Roger Federer for the great times. Prepare your racket and be part of the tribute. Drain your favorite pasta with it and tag Barilla to say thank you to Roger,” Barilla captioned the ad. See the ad here: Barilla switch to making pasta with tennis rackets to honor Roger Federer In August this year, having no tournaments scheduled, Federer decided to fly to Zurich and meet the Zizou.
The whole meeting was recorded and published on Barilla’s YouTube channel. “A surprising story about a fan, one question, and one of the greatest tennis players of all time. It’s been 5 years since Izyan Ahmad, known to most as Zizou, challenged Federer to a match during the U.S.
Open press conference. Together with Barilla, Roger Federer decides to surprise his fan by flying him to Zurich and fulfilling his promise. It’s time for Zizou to play against Federer, who has 20 Grand Slam titles to his name,” reads the caption of Barilla’s promotional but emotional video.
You can see the video here: Roger Federer surprises kid by fulfilling “pinky promise” made 5 years ago
