The fourth edition of the NextGen ATP Finals kicks off on Tuesday in Milan with a fresh crop of under-21 talent. The tournament did suffer some withdrawals with Jannik Sinner, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Jenson Brooksby not playing the event. Despite that, a strong and entertaining field gathers here.
Lineup
Carlos Alcaraz, Brandon Nakashima, Juan Manuel Cerundolo, and Holger Rune will be battling it out in Group A. Alcaraz is the top seed at the event, entering at No. 32 in the rankings.
Sebastian Korda, Lorenzo Musetti, Sebastian Baez, and Hugo Gaston will compete in Group B.
This is the future. This is the NextGen.@intesasanpaolo #NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/AeGZ8Y1YOI
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) November 8, 2021
This is the future. This is the NextGen.@intesasanpaolo #NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/AeGZ8Y1YOI
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) November 8, 2021
Format
The NextGen Finals are played under an unusual format, with players competing to win a best of five sets match. However, unlike on the rest of the tour, the sets are played first to four games. A regular tiebreaker is played at 3-3. The games are also played in no-ad scoring with a deciding point at deuce.
Other differences compared to the main tour are playing through lets on serve and permitted coaching, including headset coaching during changeovers.
The tournament doesn’t just have a different feel because of all the format and rule changes–the ATP NextGen Finals also have a very distinct look as the court only has the singles lines and no doubles corridor.
The NextGen Finals are a good opportunity for the ATP to experiment with new rules that could potentially be implemented into the main tour. For example, the “shot clock” serve timer was first used at this event.
We’ll be covering as much of the event as we can here at LWOT. It’s an interesting and entertaining new format, featuring young players to appeal to a younger crowd, so make sure not to miss any of the action.
Main Photo from Getty.
