The calendar of the greatest tennis players on the planet has concluded since mid-November, the ATP joining this week as the last official event of the year. From the afternoon of this month until the grand final next Sunday, the Next Gen Finals meet in Yeda (Saudi Arabia) with the best rackets of the men’s under-20 circuit, these are the other young people destined to break the cascade and dazzle the world on the most relevant dates of the calendar during the next season.
The tournament, which is almost identical in format to the ATP Finals (groups of four tennis players, semi-finals and finals), only came into effect in 2017, when the ATP faced a problem that threatened to unravel one of the tour’s biggest attractions. With Nadal, Federer and Djokovic sharing much of the pastel in the form of titles, the average age of the top 10 skyrocketed until it reached the formation, a figure much higher than the 26 it recorded eight years later despite the inexhaustible presence of Djokovic and his 38 springs.
During this first edition, the South Korean Hyeon Chung won in the Milan final against the promising Andrey Rublev. In the following years, tennis players such as Stefanos Tsitsipas, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz reached the trophy, all with brilliant professional careers after breaking through in a Next Gen final in which also brilliantly the American Brandon Nakashima, champion in 2022. He followed a course after that, in 2023, when he participated in the Lombardy tournament to settle in Saudi Arabia, where the Serbian Hamad Medjedovic and Brazilian Joao Fonseca won the title. latest deliveries.
To imitate his steps, and with the desire, why not, to prolong the sweet flavor of triumph like the day he went to Sinner or Alcaraz, Spain tells the story of two tennis players present in Yeda. Born in the capital in 2006, both are graduates of the Club de Tenis Chamartín de Madrid. Both also won the US Open in the junior category. And, despite their insulting youth, they both have a deep admiration for Rafael Nadal, previously converted into a racquet legend even if neither of them had dropped the bottle.
The mayor, Martín Landaluce, is one of the best-known names of the tournament after confirming the absence of the Czech Jakub Mensik, number 19 of the ATP and maximum aspirant in the starting five. A former student of the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, Landaluce, world number 134, achieved the successes of this year in his career: reaching the first round of the Australian Open and certifying his first victory at the ATP (in Miami, against the Spaniard Jaume Munar). However, his greatest achievement came in 2022, when he won the US Junior Open. Only two years later, Rafa Jódar, in the last eight months of 2006, completed his effort and won in New York after rowing against the tide in front of the big favorite, the Norwegian Nicolai Budkov Kjaer.
“Parties always give away a lot of steals,” the champion then said without losing his composure. Created in Leganés, in the southern belt of the capital, Jódar offers a game of pies that resembles Sinner more than Alcaraz. So he returns his 190 centimeters of pure fiber and his endless arms. About them, when they are still aware of it, they rest a well-hammered head, strengthened by intelligence and discipline, skills that can help them reach the 168th rung in the ranking. “Calm and intensity are the key elements of my game,” he explained after his conquest in the United States, where he has been training and studying for years at the University of Virginia.
Landaluce’s physical development is very distinct, more explosive and even as sharp as that of his companion. “We and Rafa have faced a lot since we were kids,” said the man, nicknamed TintinI worked under Toni Nadal. “I saw potential in myself and I knew it very quickly,” he emphasizes. “Toni is a person who has no filters, so if you want to decide something, tell me. You are someone who pushed me to work harder but it’s up to me to get there.”
Regardless, none of the Spaniards arrive this year in Yeda with the victory of the favorite, a role that seems to go to the American Learner Tien, number 28 in the ATP ranking. Landaluce and Jódar will meet again next June during their group’s second trip. In the end, one of the semi-finalists of a tournament could emerge, the Next Gen Finals, whose format is different from the others: the parties compete in the best of five sets, with four games per set, breaking the tie to reach 3-3 and without winning. devil.
The economic price is not negligible either, since the ATP will distribute from this month of July until Sunday, the day of the grand final, something more than two million dollars, with incentives for victories in the group stage, as well as additional bonuses for finishing the tournament without knowing defeat. Yeda’s show will also feature an exceptional guest: Nadal, tennis idol of several participants, will attend the tournament as ambassador of the Saudi Tennis Federation, a role he has held since 2024.
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