Yesterday marked the start of 2025’s final official competition. Staged in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Next Gen ATP Finals will run through Sunday, 21 December – offering a final glimpse into the sport’s rising generation. Launched in 2017, the tournament places the spotlight on the ATP Tour’s best male players aged 20 and under, bringing together those shaping the future of men’s tennis in an exhibition tournament. Here’s everything you need to know as the week unfolds.
As part of Saudi Arabia’s broader ambition to establish itself as a global hub for major sporting events, and just months after the Six Kings Slam brought together the likes of Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic, King Abdullah Sports City has hosted the Next Gen exhibition since 2023. That inaugural Jeddah edition saw Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic lift the title against Arthur Fils. Both have since broken into the world’s top 60, with Fils reaching a career-high ranking of No. 14 earlier this April.
The following year delivered another display of potent youth tennis, as João Fonseca and Learner Tien went head-to-head in a compelling final. The Brazilian emerged champion after a tight battle (2–4, 4–3, 4–0, 4–2), with Tien just 19 at the time. This season, Fonseca is sidelined by injury, but Tien — still only 20 — returns for a second, final shot at the title. He arrives as the tournament favourite. As the top seed, ranked world No. 28, Tien faces opponents that are competitive yet comparatively less proven, including Alexander Blockx (No. 116), Martín Landaluce (No. 134), and Justin Engel, who stepped in after Jakub Menšík (world No. 19) withdrew due to physical issues.
The now must-stop venue for emerging stars with ambitions of reaching tennis’s summit has already seen the current world No. 1 and No. 2 lift its trophy before any Grand Slam silverware was in sight. Carlos Alcaraz claimed the title in 2021, aged just 18, defeating Sebastian Korda in Milan. The following season, he captured his first Masters 1000 crown and went on to win his maiden Grand Slam at the US Open, aged 19 — becoming the youngest men’s singles champion since Pete Sampras in 1990. The rest, quite simply, is history in the making.
Sinner, meanwhile, anticipated the Spaniard’s rise. Two years older than Alcaraz, the Italian was already beating the likes of Alex de Minaur at just 18 in 2019, lifting the Next Gen ATP trophy against the Australian. Yet his ascent proved more measured: Sinner would wait until 2024 to claim his first Grand Slam, at the Australian Open, a reminder that his path to the summit was built on patience and method rather than meteoric rise.
Together, they have set a daunting benchmark for the generations to come. And as fans begin to ask whether a third force might one day rise to challenge them — as Djokovic once did to Federer and Nadal — the Next Gen ATP Finals may well offer the first clues. It is here that the next wave reveals itself, testing the foundations of the Sinner–Alcaraz era and hinting at what could follow.
