When and where will the Finals take place?
The Next Gen Finals will once again be held at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as in the previous two years.
From December 17 to 21, the eight best young ATP tennis players will compete for the title.
The format
The Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF start with a group stage, similar to the ATP Finals for men: eight players are split into two groups of four.
The top seed is placed in Group A, while the second seed goes into Group B. Each player faces the other three in their group. The winner of each group meets the runner-up from the other group in the semi-finals.
The group standings are determined in the following order: number of wins, number of matches played, head-to-head result (if two players are tied), highest percentage of sets won (then: highest percentage of games won/best position in the PIF ATP Ranking) if three or four players are tied.
Unique rules
In recent years, the tournament has served as a testing ground for the ATP to trial new rules, mainly aimed at making the format more dynamic and fast-paced.
All singles matches are played in a best-of-five format, but a player only needs to win four games per set instead of the usual six. If both players win three games in a set, a standard tiebreak to seven points is played. There is no traditional deuce; at 40:40, the next point decides the game. The server can choose which side to serve from.
There are also significant changes to the timing rules. The set break is shortened from 120 to 90 seconds. Players have only eight seconds between first and second serves. If a rally consists of just two shots, the time between points is reduced from 25 to 15 seconds.
The first change of ends after the opening game of a set is eliminated, and spectators are allowed to move freely in the stadium during the first three games of each set.
The participants
The qualified players are determined by the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah: the top eight players in this ranking who are 20 years old or younger qualify.
Justin Engel, at 18, is the youngest of the eight participants. The German made it into the field thanks to Jakub Mensik’s late withdrawal. Ranked 187 in the world, he is the first German to ever play at the Next Gen Finals.
Learner Tien, ranked 28th in the world, is the highest-ranked player in the tournament and considered the top favorite.
Another potentially familiar name is Dino Prizmic, who managed to take a set off Novak Djokovic at the 2024 Australian Open and reached the quarter-finals at the ATP 250 event in Umag this year. The players have been drawn into the following groups:
Blue Group
Learner Tien
Red Group
Dino Prizmic
Justin Engel
Schedule
The group stage will be played from December 17 to 19. The semi-finals are set for December 20, and the final will take place on December 21.
Wednesday, December 17
Not before 12:00 pm: Dino Prizmic vs. Nishesh Basavareddy
Not before 1:30 pm: Alexander Blockx vs. Justin Engel
Not before 5:00 pm: Learner Tien vs. Rafael Jodar
Not before 6:30 pm: Martin Landaluce vs. Nicolai Budkov Kjaer
Thursday, December 18 / Friday, December 19
tba: Dino Prizmic vs. Justin Engel
tba: Nishesh Basavareddy vs. Justin Engel
tba: Alexander Blockx vs. Dino Prizmic
tba: Alexander Blockx vs. Nishesh Basavareddy
tba: Martin Landaluce vs. Rafael Jodar
tba: Nicolai Budkov Kjaer vs. Rafael Jodar
tba: Learner Tien vs. Nicolai Budkov Kjaer
tba: Learner Tien vs. Martin Landaluce
Saturday, December 20
Not before 5:00 pm: Semi-final 1
Not before 7:00 pm: Semi-final 2
Sunday, December 21
Not before 6:00 pm: Final
Prize money
The eight participants are playing for impressive sums: the total prize money for the ATP Next Gen Finals is $2,101,250 (about €1,787,514). The amount each player earns depends on the number of matches they win. The maximum a player can win is $539,750 (€459,161) if they win all their matches.
The champion receives $157,250 (€133,771), each group stage win is worth $37,500 (€31,901), and just qualifying for the event guarantees $154,000 (€131,006).
To put these amounts in perspective: Engel has earned just over $286,000 (€243,297) in career prize money from singles and doubles so far. Only for Tien (career prize money: $2,526,637/€2,149,387) are the sums at the Next Gen Finals relatively modest.
Previous winners
Since its debut in 2017, the Next Gen Finals have become one of the most prestigious tournaments on the ATP Tour. It’s no coincidence that the current world number one and two, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, have both lifted the trophy here.
Other notable champions include Stefanos Tsitsipas and Joao Fonseca, who last year claimed the trophy after a four-set win over Tien.
All winners
2017: Chung Hyeon
2018: Stefanos Tsitsipas
2019: Jannik Sinner
2020: Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021: Carlos Alcaraz
2022: Brandon Nakashima
2023: Hamad Medjedovic
2024: Joao Fonseca
How to watch
On a global scale, TennisTV broadcasts all matches from the Next Gen Finals. This paid streaming service can be accessed from anywhere.