To adapt the most infinitely adaptable quotation in the English language, “To have one Next Gen champion reach an ATP final might be a one-off; to have two Next Gen champions reach ATP finals on the same weekend is surely evidence of a trend.” On Valentine’s day weekend 2025, João Fonseca, the 2024 Next Gen champion, won in Buenos Aires while Hamad Medjedovic, the 2023 Next Gen champion, reached the final in Marseilles. And for good measures, other “Next Genners” also excelled, proving that the youthquake shaking up men’s tennis is showing no sign of abating.
Fonseca Wins In Buenos Aires
João Fonseca, the 18-year-old Brazilian, has long been earmarked for potential superstardom but his Next Gen triumph in Jeddah two months ago seemed to confirm all the superlatives. He may be baby-faced but otherwise is all man and all-court tennis player: big, powerful serve; superb on both forehand and backhand wings; and with incredible speed and mobility. At his absolute best, he looks like a souped-up South American Carlos Alcaraz.
Fonseca’s victory in the Argentine capital won him the first ATP Tour title of his career and made him the 10th youngest champion in ATP Tour history, putting him in the most illustrious company alongside Rafael Nadal and Alcaraz. He had backed up his Next Gen triumph with a spectacular first-round win in the Australian Open against Andrey Rublev. And if he was ultimately unable to build on that in Australia, as he lost his second-round match to Lorenzo Sonego, he certainly stayed the course in Buenos Aires.
Beyond the fact that they are both Next Gen champions and truly all-court players, there is another obvious point of comparison between Fonseca and Alcaraz. Just as Alcaraz achieved a truly historic first ATP Tour victory in Rio in 2022, beating a succession of top 10 players in a quarterfinal, semifinal and final played out in just over 24 hours because of rain delays, so Fonseca defeated several generally more highly ranked and certainly more experienced players to secure his debut ATP Tour triumph.
In particular, Fonseca defeated no fewer than four Argentinians in their home tournament to win in Buenos Aires. After beating Tomás Martín Etcheverry, Federico Coria and Mariano Navone to reach the semi-final, in which he defeated Serbian clay-court specialist Lazlo Djere, Fonseca made it a “Fab Four” of victories over Argentinians by beating Francisco Cerúndolo. The “hostility” in the stands at a tennis match between an Argentinian and a Brazilian might not match the white-hot intensity of a football match between the two countries’ national teams. None the less, it was still hugely impressive that Fonseca could produce such a series of outstanding performances against home players.
Furthermore, Fonseca’s rapidly increasing profile and maiden tour success on his home continent, which he could possibly follow up with victory in his home country at the Rio Open this week, strengthens the argument that South America should eventually have its own Masters tournament. Given the continent’s great history of producing champions, from Maria Bueno to Guillermo Villas to ‘Guga’ Kuerten to Juan-Martin del Potro, and the general fervour for tennis in South America, it is surely deserving of one.
An easy solution would be to merge the two tournaments in Buenos Aires and Rio, making them one “South American Masters” or “South American Open”, and the two great capitals could take turns in hosting it each year, just as Montreal and Toronto take turns in hosting the Canadian Open. But whatever the precise logistics, given that Fonseca is only 18, unless he suffers serious injury it is surely inconceivable that he will not play at a Masters event on his home continent before he retires.
Medjedovic Comes Up Short In Marseilles
Hamad Medjedovic, the 21-year-old Serbian, could not quite match Fonseca’s heroics in Argentina, as he finished runner-up in Marseilles at the Open 13 Provence tournament to France’s Ugo Humbert. Nevertheless, given the difficulties that Medjedovic has endured over the last year, it was still an enormously encouraging week for him.
Unlike Fonseca, Medjedovic did not immediately build upon his Next Gen triumph, which came in 2023. Quite the reverse in fact, as he generally struggled throughout 2024, with his only two real highlights being a run to the third round of the Italian Open, where he lost to Daniil Medvedev, and later in the season reaching the final in his home tournament, the Belgrade Open, which he lost to Denis Shapovalov.
In 2025, however, Medjedovic has looked like a man eager to make up for lost time, with his progress in the last week in particular almost matching the rapidity of his serving. In Jeddah in 2023, Medjedovic showed everyone why he is nicknamed “Hamad the Hammer” with a succession of superb serving matches and again in Marseilles last week he showed the full range of his “first shots”. That was especially evident at the end of the semifinal against Daniil Medvedev, in which he exacted revenge for his Rome defeat last year. On match-point, he first went full out with a 227 kph (about 141 mph) first serve, which was narrowly wide, before going for a much slower but more precise second serve down the T junction that Medvedev was unable to reach.
Unlike Fonseca in Buenos Aires, Medjedovic was unable to defeat the home favourite in the final in Marseilles, as Ugo Humbert produced a masterclass of serving of his own. He may not be able to reach Medjedovic’s top speeds, but he showed far greater consistency and control throughout the match to win relatively comfortably in straight sets, 7-6 (7-4) 6-4. His only real wobble came at the end of the first set when he failed to serve for it, but he rallied magnificently to win the tie-break and never really looked back.
For Medjedovic, it was obviously disappointing that he could not secure his first ever tour title, but after such a difficult 12 months in which he was unable to build on his 2023 Next Gen success, he can take enormous confidence from his performances in the south of France.
And Alex Michelsen Made the Delray Semi-Final For Good Measure
Fonseca and Medjedovic were not alone as recent “Next Genners” who enjoyed Valentine’s week and weekend. At Delray Beach in Florida, Alex Michelsen, the 20-year-old American who qualified for both the 2023 and 2024 Next Gen Finals, made it all the way to the semi-final, where he lost to the eventual winner of the tournament, Miomir Kecmanović (who himself had reached the 2019 Next Gen finals). And of course the finest performance overall so far in 2025 by a “Class of 2024” Next Gen player was that of Learner Tien, the 19-year-old American who finished runner-up in Jeddah two months ago. He reached the second week, or fourth round, at last month’s Australian Open, defeating fifth seed Medvedev en route.
Medvedev is just one of many players in their mid to late 20s who are suddenly being made to look much older than that by the likes of Medjedovic, Fonseca and Tien. Others include Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was the Next Gen champion in 2018. In the seven years since the Greek’s Next Gen victory, the tournament has firmly established itself as the best predictor of future success in men’s tennis. In addition to Jannik Sinner (the 2019 winner) and Carlos Alcaraz (the 2021 winner), who are probably the best two male players in the world right now, there has been a whole host of Next Gen winners, runners-up and even finalists who have made a significant impact in the top ranks of the men’s game. And this weekend only confirmed that trend.
There is still a sneaking suspicion that the timing of the 2024 Next Gen tournament just before Christmas, which meant that Fonseca, Tien and all the other players who reached it had no real off-season, could catch up with them later in the 2025 season. For now, however, Fonseca has powerfully suggested that he could be the third Next Gen champion, after Sinner and Alcaraz, to become a World No.1 and win Majors, while the likes of Medjedovic, Tien and Michelsen have shown that they will also be knocking hard at the door.
Main Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ABACAPRESS.COM
