The Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM will debut in Jeddah next week, with eight of the game’s brightest young stars in the field.
France’s Arthur Fils and Luca Van Assche, both 19, lead their respective groups, while Switzerland’s Dominic Stricker returns to the innovative year-end event for the second year in a row.
ATPTour.com looks at five of the biggest stories in Jeddah.
1) The French in front: First-seeded Fils and second-seeded Van Assche will hope to live up to their expectations in the Green Group and the Red Group, respectively. Fils arrives in Jeddah at a career-high position in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings (No. 36) after a home title in Lyon (in May) and the final in Antwerp last month. Van Assche won two ATP Challenger Tour singles titles this season and traveled to Jeddah after two home tournaments in Paris-Bercy and Metz.
2) Stricker returns: The 21-year-old, seeded seventh last year at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, arrives in Jeddah as the third seed this year. The Swiss completed a perfect 3-0 record in the group stage in Milan, but was defeated by Jiri Lehecka in the semi-finals. In addition to winning two ATP Challenger Tour titles within the year, Stricker made his first Grand Slam appearances in 2023; he qualified for the last three majors this season, advancing to the fourth round in his US Open debut.
3) The Italians Cobolli and Nardi in the same group: Flavio Cobolli and Luca Nardi join Fils and Stricker in the Green Group, after three Italians, Lorenzo Musetti, Francesco Passaro and Matteo Arnaldi, represented Italy at the 2022 edition in Milan. Cobolli made his debut in the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings this season thanks to a strong campaign on the ATP Challenger Tour, while Nardi arrives in Jeddah two spots below his career-high ranking of No. 118 in the ATP Challenger Tour. world.
4) Michelsen, Medjedovic and Shelbayh complete the red group: American Alex Michelsen made a splash by reaching the Newport final in his second circuit-level event and is now hoping to improve his profile on the other side of the world. Serbian Hamad Medjedovic, coached by Viktor Troicki, is looking to follow compatriot Novak Djokovic’s success on the big stage, while Abdullah Shelbayh of neighboring Jordan is looking to build on his last-16 run in Metz as a qualifier. .
5) Unprecedented prize money: The eight men in Jeddah will compete for a prize pool of $2 million. An undefeated champion would win $514,000. A victory in the semifinal will be awarded with $113,500 and the championship match will give the winner $153,000.
Source: https://www.atptour.com/es/news/jeddah-scouting-report-2023
