#Next Gen ATP Finals

[steffigraf]

jannik sinner at the 2019 next gen atp finals

#jannik sinner #next gen atp finals #tennis #*gifs #look at him. literally just a baby. #this funky teenager beat the tournament's top seed in straight sets #<3333333

[schumi-nadal]

Luca Van Assche & Arthur Fils - Next Generation ATP Finals 2023

Besties first, then rivals 😌🫶🏻🇫🇷

#I love them so much #also congrats to Arthur for reaching the final #arthur fils #luca van assche #next gen atp finals #tennis

[fritzes]

#I’m bored and I want to see what everyone else thinks #arthur fils #luca van assche #dominic stricker #alex michelsen #flavio cobolli #hamad medjedovic #luca nardi #abdullah shelbayh #next gen atp finals #tennis

[tennis-out-of-context]

#borna coric #frances tiafoe #andrey rublev #cell phones #watches #next gen atp finals

[musispoedarsiv]

2 Aralık 2023 Arthur Fils Hamad Medjedovic Maçı

*Kral Abdullah Spor Şehri Merkez Kort'ta saat 20:00'de başlayacak olan NEOM Next Gen ATP Finalleri Final maçı. Sezonun özel kapanışında bakalım hangi isim geleceğe mesajını yollayacak? Güzel bir mücadele dileriz. İki tarafa da sağlıklı bir maç ve başarılar.

Her iki raketin de final yolu:

-Arthur Fils-

#Yeşil Grup = Luca Nardi (2-4/4-3[8-6]/4-2/1-4/4-2)

#Yeşil Grup = Flavio Cobolli (4-1/4-2/4-2)

#Yeşil Grup = Dominic Stricker (4-2/3-4[3-7]/4-2/4-3[7-5])

#Yarı Final = Luca Van Assche (2-4/4-1/4-3[7-1]/4-3[8-6])

-Hamad Medjedovic-

#Kırmızı Grup = Alex Michelsen (4-2/4-3[7-3]/3-4[3-7]/3-4[5-7]/4-3[7-4])

#Kırmızı Grup = Luca Van Assche (4-2/2-4/4-3[9-7]/4-1)

#Kırmızı Grup = Abdullah Shelbayh (3-4[6-8]/4-2/4-3[7-5]/4-2)

#Yarı Final = Dominic Stricker (4-3[7-5]/2-1,ret.)

*İlk seti 4-3[8-6] kazanan Fils 1-0 öne geçti. İki taraf da birbirini tartarak başladı. Tie-break'te Medjedovic çok etkili başlayıp 5-2'yi gördü ama Fils 2 set puanı çevirerek geri döndü.

*İkinci setin galibi 4-1 ile Medjedovic oldu ve durumu 1-1 yaptı. Sırp raket hızlı başladı ve öyle de rahat tamamladı bu bölümü.

*Üçüncü sette 4-2 üstünlük kuran Medjedovic maçı 2-1'e çevirmeyi başardı. İlk oyundaki break'le çok iyi idare etti ve büyük avantaj elde etti.

*Dördüncü set 4-3[11-9] Fils lehine sonuçlandı ve Fransız raket 2-2 ile maça tutundu. Tie-break'te özellikle heyecan yüksekti. Medjedovic 2 maç puanını değerlendiremedi. Fils ise üçüncü set puanında gülmeyi başardı. Şampiyon son sette belli olacak.

*Son seti 4-1 alan Medjedovic mücadeleyi 3-2 kazanarak şampiyonluğa ulaştı. Sırp raketten yine ikinci setteki gibi çok sağlam bir performans geldi ve turnuvanın 1 numarası önünde sevinci yaşamayı başardı.

#spor arşivi #maç arşivi #next gen atp finals #arthur fils #hamad medjedovic #tenis #tennis #spor #sport

[zingaplanet]

It's fascinating to think of the future of tennis as a sport after this era is officially over (AKA all rafa, novak and andy finally retired for good). With the constant that is human progression, we always knew that sports are on the way up, getting faster, more competitive, more physically demanding and generally better, just look at the difference between olympics 50 years ago and now. But what if there is a limit with game-format restricted sports? Maybe there is a certain point where there is only so much racket development or match technology improvement we can make without transforming the sport into a whole different game entirely. Excluding physical human evolution itself, which might take a couple decades, the sport might have reached its peak in its most competitive form, and there is really no way of beating or even yet repeating this jackpot of golden era.

Sadly, if we're being honest the truest rivals of the big 3 in their dominance have only been each other and themselves. We've had a next gen, a next next gen, and a whole batch of new promising future players (we've even invented a tournament so they can compete AMONGST THEMSELVES only) but they never really did break the full dominance of these 30-40 year old veterans consistently, except for instances when they themselves are injured (e.g., Nadal pulling out of Wimbledon this year).

Tennis analysts have been criticised for being too judgmental, but they've also witnessed 20 something Federer taking the crown directly from Agassi-Sampras AND staying for the next 20 years at the top, as well as 17 year old Nadal beating the world number one consistently in his prime, and Djokovic doing the impossible and breaking into the Federer-Nadal duopoly.

The biggest worry is of course to have a whole generation of new players on the tour after the rest of the big 3 and their peers (Wawrinka, Andy, etc) retired who've never actually beaten (or pull the rug from under them so to say) the champions of the previous era consistently. This will mean that the sports have not transitioned to the better but has solely transitioned to the next era due to natural decline. Sadly, this seems more and more likely given that Nadal and Djokovic are well past their primes at this point and ARE STILL winning 2 slams in their late 30s, which means the opportunity to knock them off their crowns are pretty much expired as they're likely to retire on a high anyway.

The likeliest and most dangerous scenario is that we truly are living in a one-of-a-kind era, where the best tennis players that will ever be happened to be playing all at the same time. If that is so, it's time for us to realise the importance of enjoying the ride for as long as we got left. As it'll ever be this thrilling, this competitive, this mindboggling once, and we have the front row seats at the theatre of the gods.

#just some tennis op #this truly is sad i was a big fan of some of the next gens as well #it's just not possible to consistently beat the big 3 i guess they're aliens #any thoughts on why? #tennis #fedal #roger federer #rafael nadal #novak djokovic #andy murray #stan wawrinka #next gen #atp finals #nitto atp finals #casper ruud #carlos alcaraz #dominic thiem #sascha zverev

[melissa-leaf]

#I miss them 😭😭😭 #Carlitos & Juanki #Special Spanish Baby #next gen atp finals 2021 #Carlos Alcaraz #Juan Carlos Ferrero #Tennis #gifs

[sportsallover]

I am excited for tomorrow!! I have never watched Next Gen ATP Finals matches yet, so I don’t really know what to expect, but I’m very curious to see how it’ll go.

#I know I said tennis was over #but I had forgotten the Next Gen ATP Finals #with Arthur and Lucas #the two Italians #Dominic Stricker #and #Abdullah Shelbayh #??? #I don’t understand how he qualified #but I really wanted to see him play so that’s a good surprise #tennis #Arthur Fils #Luca van Assche #Luca Nardi #Fabio Cobolli

[thatdeadaquarius]

Imagine a horribly clumsy creator in the sagau... like trips over their own feet, starts coughing due to choking on air randomly, knocking a vase off a table that was in the middle of the table somehow???? Silly goofy stuff like that (I pull these silly goofs often personally)

(obv goes w/o saying sorry for being so late to reply /gen) ;-;

clumsy reader is so me core idk why i didnt think of this lmao

(this gif is liek the modern equivalent of Charlotte posting ur embarrassing clumsy moments on insta Steambird acc lmao)

(so sometimes im lazy and dont include the ask stuff esp if its shorter like this, so here's at least the characters in this one: Fontaine ppl <3 along with a G for general audience, barring cuss words)

Navia would politely ask you to go the edge or whatever area ur in whenever she pulls out her cannons/guns LMAO

every time you and either Clorinde or Neuvillette are walking next to you, or doing rlly anything, its like night and day

ur out here finding all the cracks in the sidewalk, bumping everything that could even possibly have a liquid in it, and have constant bruises from hip checking/stubbing toes on mechas walking around

Clorinde is impressed at that point bc mechas are actively programmed to get out of your way, so how u managed to put them back into ur way rlly fascinates her 😭😭

Neuvillette would like to wrap u in fabric/bubble wrap equivalent for his old ass, in an attempt to desperately stop u from hurting urself lol

u get a new coat or new pants from him all the time, u just thought at first he was rlly into giving u Fontaine fashion until Furina pointed out that it was spring/summer and you wouldn't wear thick woolen pants and fur-lined coats everyday 💀

(poor dragon guy doesn't rlly get the practical side of clothes, he likes fashion, but he inadvertently subscribes to the "hoes don't get cold" philosophy by being an ancient dragon lord)

Wriothesley is unfortunately nice enough to constantly try and catch his poor god, which ends well for neither of you 50% of the time

its not even ur weight takes him down, he's buff as hell after all, and he's dealt with rowdy inmates, its just.. ur clumsiness spreads.

if ur tripping, and the poor Duke reaches out to catch you, ur reaching out at the same time to steady urself on a side table w/a vase full of water, which u then knock off, drenching ur back and his face at the same time LMAO

he doesn't learn, despite u literally begging him to stop trying to help u, then u try and compromise to just let u fall and help u afterward asdfghkl-

Wrio's too chivalrous tho, the most u can get him to do is always grab ur arm instead of trying to bodily catch you

if u think after the first like, ✌️ TWO times Lynette is willing to help you, u r so wrong lmao

she's seen her brothers clumsiness, she knows theres no saving u

she does comfort u after slipping (not even falling but just flailing dramatically) for the 5th time in the puddles around water fountains tho

Lyney and Freminet are lowkey legit convinced someones cursed their god atp 😰

Freminet always had bandaids for u, and Lyney keeps a supply of ur fav candy to cheer u up after embarrassing urself by falling ass backwards right into the Fountain of Lucine right in front of Opera house lmao

...

...Charlotte thinks this is all vv hilarious, no she has no respect for ur godliness, her archon was Furina like LMAO- IM SORRYYY

(she has started a small section in the steambird of a near daily- DAILY picture of u being clumsy 😭)

(u, not srsly, threaten to smite her and she just giggles)

(its ok they take it all in a cute/endearing trait type of way)

☆

again, sorry for lateness, when i reopen askbox (soon, FINALLY-)

ill try and stay more on top of it and try and sort whatre just chats/non-requests better too 😭😭

hope u guys are having a good week!! tysm for being patient and nice to me :')

Safe Travels Kai,

💀♒

If you wanna join a taglist, DM me what for! "Pspspsss, please tag me for [All SAGAU posts, Only SAGAU Language AUs, diff fandom, etc.]!"

(If you ever wanna drop, just DM me! "No more taglists/[specifically this AU/fandom] please!")

♡the beloveds♡

@karmawonders / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist / @thedevioussmirk / @the-dumber-scaramouche / @chocogi / @fallen-starr / @areaderofbooks / @devilangel657 / @esthelily / @justinsomniachild / @nanithefuck / @questionotmystopit / @chinuneko / @silvers-tongue

@kiyomi-uchiha777

<3

#genshin sagau #sagau #genshin isekai #my asks #aqua asks #genshin impact sagau #genshin x reader #genshin imagines #gender neutral reader #oh tags #my beloathed #idk anymore to put pls just take this #anyway u think sigwienne would do that blunt child thing where they kinda read you to filth #bc i do #i rlly do #and i think this is one teyvat god reader that would not handle it well 😭

[aliicante]

one (1) person said they wanted to hear more about the alex de minaur jannik sinner narrative so here we go

it is 2019. your name is alex de minaur. you are 20. you are seeded first in the atp next-gen finals, you have three actual atp titles, you're ranked 18th in the world, and you're an aquarius man; consequently, you are somewhat full of yourself. you wear tennis gear with your ridiculous nickname on it. you speak spanish every two seconds in the documentary, because you must show off. you believe you are, by all rights, The Main Character.

then this skinny italian wild card pops up and destroys you.

okay. that's fine. embarrassing!!! but fine. whatever. we move on. he's cool! you're friends! let's keep going. at the end of 2020, you run into him again in the sofia quarterfinals, where you take the first set and then he destroys you again. with a breadstick to really rub it in. he goes on and wins the whole thing, which means he wrecked you on his way to his first-ever atp title. fine! okay. whatever.

it is 2021. you don't see him again, which is just as well, because you have a soaring high and then a terrible low (string of r1/r2 losses). you drop to 34th in the world; meanwhile, jannik sinner has spent the year going from 37th to cracking the top 10. things are not looking great.

in 2022, you make it to the third round of the auso for the first time, where you meet—guess who—jannik sinner. again. you're starting to get really tired of this guy. he knocks you out of your home slam. thankfully you have a relatively successful year afterwards, climbing back up the ranks.

it's 2023! this will be your year, surely. you kick it off by winning your first 500. the sunshine double doesn't go great but you do brilliantly at queen's club and los cabos, only losing in the finals to top 10 players. then.... Canada.

you beat fritz. you beat medvedev. you make it to the final of a 1000 for the first time! and then jannik sinner is there in all his ginger glory, and, well. you know how this is going to go. bye-bye first 1000 title, hello increasingly miserable h2h. you start wondering if you're going to be there for all of this guy's career-defining wins. you start wondering why the hell it had to be you specifically. this is getting ridiculous. because now it's 2024 and he won the whole entire australian open and then to really seal in the whole thing he had to go and beat you, specifically in rotterdam to make some more history.

and like, you guys are friends. pretty good friends, actually. you played doubles once and it was hilarious!! but also, consistent and absolute annihilation??? seriously???

in summary i find their friendship absolutely mindbending. alex de minaur you must be the nicest person ever because personally if someone did me like this i would spend my entire life trying to blow them up with my mind

#alex de minaur #jannik sinner #they are hilarious to me #like what do you mean you're this guy's good friend how are you not aflame with resentment please teach me your anti-hater ways #de sinnaur

[steffigraf]

flavio cobolli fixes his own racket at the next gen atp finals (30.11.2023)

#flavio cobolli #next gen atp finals #tennis #*gifs #it was so funny to me idk #diy king #the kids are trying their best

[ajlatomljanovics]

The recent de sinnaur revelation has reminded me again of this moment in the 2019 next gen atp final doco:

Jannik: I'l see you after, alright?

Alex: Alright, I'll see you big dog.

#take from it what you will :) #jannik sinner #alex de minaur #de sinnaur #tennis

[juyomiao]

FIREWORK - park sunghoon x reader

prev - masterlist - next

07 ★ like the stayc song

warnings : ignore timestamps but atp thats a given , jungwon getting (not so srs) death threats

☆ note hes alive‼️‼️‼️li juyomiao is alive n well‼️‼️n seeing tbz in a month (yes i wont stfu abt it)(i'll make a 'i survived tbz zeneration encore in seoul ticketing' shirt /j) . anyways i rlly like this chapter n u can hope for more consistent updates bc i finally figured out the plot a little more ,, u shouldn't be that happy abt it bc of the drama im abt to create tho . 😀

★ synopsis newly debuted 5th gen girl group CUP!D from starship entertainment is under everyone's eyes as their debut song 'love dive' goes viral both domestically and internationally ; all is going well until the group's main vocalist, y/n, gets exposed for her old stan… hate account?

☆ taglist (italics = couldn't tag) @rikitachquita @roseidol @leep0ems @tocupid @skzeyeu @porcelain-moths @jiaant11 @philijack @ish4niii @mrchweeee @be0mluver @imsiriuslyreal @blackphoneboo @yulafilms @antivenus @poollabug @jiawji @wonyoungsvirus @artstaeh @heelovesmeknot

#☆ li writes #☆firework☆ #enhypen x reader #enhypen scenarios #enhypen smau #enhypen fic #enhypen social media au #enhypen fluff #sunghoon smau #sunghoon fluff #sunghoon scenarios #sunghoon x reader #enhypen #park sunghoon

[faeryaesther]

cmiiw but jannik and carlos are the only two winners of next gen atp finals who already won a grand slam.

#oh the math is mathing #sincaraz

[youredreamingofroo]

Not so Berry, a long recap (1/3)

prev / next

Feel free to read this whether or not you're invested in the future of my Not so Berry save, if you are, i also encourage you to check out the intro cards for all these sims

There are images at the end of each recap Alt text very briefly explains the scene

Humble Beginnings.

We start the story in Henford-On-Bagley, in Fall, with Coral. Simon Scott decided to visit, and ended up asking to stay over, Coral let him stay (despite the shitty living situation), they also hit it off. Sometime later I (not coral) found out his wife, Sara, was PREGNANT… 

They start dating (he's married btw!!! 😐), but during dinner one night, Sara finds out about the two, they both get chewed out. The next day, Simon "apologized" to Coral in a very intimate way.

Later on, Simon tells her that Sara and him got divorced, Coral proposes to him later that night. Since the proposal, he’d become silent, but one day, he asked her out on a date, the date goes poorly, they're both distant, and a man catches Coral's eye, she was drawn to this man, Simon tries to get her back, fails and leaves, the man, Don, and Coral go back to her place to tango. Coral turns out to be pregnant. 

She has a discussion with Don abt the baby, and in the end, she decides to keep the baby, she’s still engaged atp. she gives birth to a girl, the heir, named Cataleya.

Coral finally decides to tell Simon what’s going on, Simon was enraged, but offered her a second chance, she didn’t take it.

(A.N) I left my game unpaused when I went to make dinner and i came back to Coral being pregnant.

Love fest comes around and Don takes Coral to the festival, after a ton of damning signs, he proposes to her (and also swaps traits, Non-committal to Loyal).

Don realizes how much he loves being a father, Coral gives birth to triplets, Peregrine, Constance and Emmett, and while taking care of the newborns, Don has another self-discovery (became Family-oriented)

Coral begins a sub-plot where she tackles her self-esteem issues, specifically on how she's gained weight from all her pregnancies.

In the meantime, the triplets age up, Coral argues with Don about wanting attention, how they still haven’t gotten married, however he didn’t retaliate because he didn’t want Cataleya hearing them argue, and then Cataleya aged up.

(I changed the lifespan to normal at this point)

Coral finally loses enough weight to be happy with herself, but she wonders if she’s actually doing this for herself or for someone else…

The triplets age up to toddlers!

Don and Coral have an argument, they sit in silence for 10 minutes, then Don tells her what she needs to change about herself, and she reluctantly agrees

Cataleya ages up to a child- And Coral ended up pregnant AGAIN (don't remember/know how it happened)

Although she’s two pregnancies and four kids late, she finally goes to counseling for this unwanted pregnancy. She also decides to get her tubes tied.

The last gen 2 baby is born, Callum Meadows, who turns out to be an Albino.

Don and Coral finally get married (Don also invited Simon to the wedding 👀)

Peregrine begins his sub-plot where he fears failure and wants to be like his sisters, he starts locking himself in his room and doing homework and extra-credit work as much/often as possible. 

Coral and Don FINALLY age up to Adults, and Cataleya ages up to a teen.

Later on, Callum ages up to a child (I stopped caring about this kid when he aged up to an infant, so from here on, don’t expect much abt him at all)

#NSBrecap #roosnsb #CoralL #CoralL* #DonL #DonL* #CataleyaM #CataleyaM* #PeregrineM #PeregrineM* #ConstanceM #ConstanceM* #EmmettM #EmmettM* #CallumM #CallumM* #ts4 #ts4 simblr #sims 4 #sims 4 simblr #simblr #the sims 4 #sims 4 screenies #sims 4 screenshots #sims 4 legacy #nsb #not so berry #not so berry challenge #sims 4 not so berry

[stateofsport211]

NextGen Finals 2023: Challenger Frequents Making their Mark

An Introductory Post to the NextGen Finalists 2023

The NextGen ATP Finals 2023 logo (📸 ATP Tour)

The field for this year’s NextGen Finals, which will be held in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) during the last weeks of November, has been set. Interestingly, just like parts of the field last year, all contenders made their mark in the ATP Challenger Tour throughout the year, which became part of the tennis Tour that showcased their potential even deeper.

This post will celebrate the next generation of tennis, serving as a recap of their season and what to expect before the Bootcamp, where everyone will get to know them better in a series of off-court challenges in one of the innovations of this year’s NextGen Finals. Furthermore, with an emphasis on the Challenger Tour, this would hopefully bring more exposure to the Challenger Tour, which became the intermediary between the rising players, those trying to rediscover their form, and those still trying to break even.

For this year, the NextGen Finals qualifying window was open until November 20, 2023, the day after the finals in 5 Challenger events this year were held. Eventually, it all came down to that week due to a possibly tight race between several players concurrently playing in several tournaments, especially Kobe and Montevideo. It took a while for the ATP to eventually finalize the finalists, and they officially announced the last 3 qualifiers earlier this Monday (November 20) despite the field looking set by the end of the second round of Kobe. They will be drawn into two groups on November 25, 2023, playing in the best-of-five mini-sets (first to 4 games).

Hereby introducing the NextGen Finalists:

1. Arthur Fils

Arthur Fils during the Montpellier (250) (📸 Next Gen ATP Finals via JB Autissier)

Arthur Fils' points to break 2-1 in the second set of the Oeiras 2 Challenger final against Joris de Loore (left), and to take the second set 7-5 in the Aix-en-Provence Challenger first round against Gregoire Barrere (right) (📸 ATP Challenger Livestream)

Starting this year one line below the Top 250, Fils’ meteoric rise commenced in Oeiras 2 Challenger, the start of his season, where he won the title against the previous week’s winner, Joris de Loore, 6-1, 7-6(4) through his predominantly working first serves and notably fiery passes, which often carried him until today. He continued the streak by being the Quimper Challenger runner-up to Gregoire Barrere 1-6, 4-6, which earned him the wild card to the Montpellier (250), where he became an eventual semifinalist to Jannik Sinner, as well as being a semifinalist of Marseille (250) to Benjamin Bonzi.

Since then, his potential flourished despite the rollercoaster clay season, with winning Lyon (250) as the pinnacle of his season (d. Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-5), followed by a semifinal appearance in Hamburg (500) several weeks later, closing the season with a runner-up finish in Antwerp (250, l. Alexander Bublik). As a reward for his remarkable season, not only did he become the first qualifier for the NextGen Finals, but he also achieved a career-high ranking of 36 by the end of October.

2. Luca van Assche

Luca van Assche's reaction upon winning the longest Challenger final of the year in Pau Challenger (📸 Tennis.com)

Luca van Assche's point to create his match point to 5-3* 40-ad in the second set of the Sanremo Challenger final against Juan Pablo Varillas (left), and to 4-3* 15-0 in the second set of the Aix-en-Provence Challenger against Andy Murray (right) (📸 ATP Challenger Livestream)

After breaking through the Top 150 by the end of 2022, van Assche had a relatively slow start to the year until he became the runner-up of the Pau Challenger at the beginning of March, where he got defeated by a resurgent Ugo Humbert in a high-quality match that lasted almost 4 hours 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(6) in the finals. The form did not stop until he cracked the Top 100 for the first time upon advancing to the semifinals of the Sanremo Challenger but further confirmed it once he straightforwardly defeated Juan Pablo Varillas 6-1, 6-3 for the title.

After a different set of rollercoasters in the clay season, including a notable defeat to Andy Murray in the Aix-en-Provence Challenger, van Assche continued his season beyond Challengers, as he made it to the second round of Eastbourne (250) as a qualifier, got eliminated against J.J. Wolf 2-6, 7-6(5), 1-6. During the indoor season, he made more noise again in the Orleans Challenger, where he lost against the eventual runner-up Jack Draper 5-7, 3-6 in the semifinals. He then sealed his season with a quarterfinal loss against a comeback Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, ranking 66th by the time of this writing right before the NextGen Finals.

3. Dominic Stricker

Dominic Stricker celebrated as he stunned Stefanos Tsitsipas in the US Open second round (📸 DAZN Germany via Getty Images)

Dominic Stricker's point to create one of his break points to 4-3* 40-ad in the second set of the finals of the first Prague Challenger against Sebastian Ofner (left, 📸 ATP Challenger Livestream) and also create one of his break points to *0-1 40-ad in the second set of the US Open third qualifying round against Thiago Agustin Tirante (right, 📸 Eurosport)

Despite his great potential being discovered last year (thus his NextGen Finals debut then), Stricker had to overcome several injuries and moments before he got to where he is today. Started the year straight to the Australian Open qualifying rounds, where he lost to Enzo Couacaud 7-6(2), 7-6(7) in one of the earliest Top 100 matches (when he was 18-19 lines away), he went on to win his second career Challenger title in Rovereto back in February (d. Giulio Zeppieri 7-6(8), 6-2), having won won his maiden Challenger title in Bergamo last year, followed by a home semifinal run in Lugano (l. Otto Virtanen). He then added Prague 1 Challenger to the list of the Challenger titles he won this year (d. Sebastian Ofner 7-6(7), 6-3), subsequently becoming a lucky loser in Roland Garros upon his third qualifying round loss against Thiago Agustin Tirante, which further asked the question on his ability to qualify for the Grand Slams due to the pressure moments he succumbed to during.

However, Stricker started steadily announcing himself on the bigger stage starting the grass season, steadily striking the ball more effectively and visibly improving during the pressure points/moments. Appeared competitive in the quarterfinals match of the Ilkley Challenger against Andy Murray despite the 6-7(5), 5-7 loss, and found himself qualified for Wimbledon after enduring a 4-set match against Mattia Bellucci in the third qualifying round. He then qualified for the US Open despite the subpar mini-clay season and build-up and asserted his revenge against Tirante (to whom he lost the final qualifying round in Roland Garros), successfully advancing to the fourth round in a competitive loss against Taylor Fritz after winning his third-round match against Benjamin Bonzi. Eventually, despite the end-of-season rollercoaster, his quarterfinal run in Basel (500) (l. Ugo Humbert) confirmed his Top 100 finish attained back in the US Open but unfortunately had to retire (for likely precautionary measures) in Ismaning Challenger at 7-6(2), 1-4 against Rudolf Molleker in hopes to be ready for his second NextGen Finals appearance.

4. Flavio Cobolli

Flavio Cobolli in action during Olbia Challenger (📸 OA Sport)

Flavio Cobolli's point to break 4-3 in the first set of the Roland Garros third qualifying round against Laurent Lokoli (left, 📸 France TV Sport), and to take the second set 6-4 during the Milan Challenger final against Facundo Diaz Acosta (right, 📸 ATP Challenger Livestream)

Trying to live up to his discovered potential last year thanks to his aggressive play (and often going deep on important occasions), Cobolli started his season with a second-round run in Pune (250), where he lost against Botic van de Zandschulp 5-7, 4-6. He then started to sparkle in Munich (250), where he ended up as a quarterfinalist (l. Christopher O’Connell), followed by a semifinal showing in Rome (Italy) Challenger (l. Jesper de Jong) and Milan Challenger (l. Facundo Diaz Acosta). In a similar timeframe (clay season, its extension, and Challenger’s own clay season), he also qualified for the Roland Garros, where he ended up being defeated by Carlos Alcaraz 0-6, 2-6, 5-7 in the first round. Fast-forward to the end of July, in almost the same tournament he finally got himself known in Umag (250), he became a quarterfinalist after the loss against Matteo Arnaldi in an all-Italian-NextGen showing.

He then continued his stellar showing in the clay Challengers, where he reached the semifinals in Tulln (l. Sumit Nagal) and won the title in a close encounter in Lisbon (d. Benjamin Hassan 7-5, 7-5), citing Cristiano Ronaldo as his title run inspiration during the post-finals press conference. Furthermore, outside of the clay-court Challengers, he still managed to maintain the streak in the Olbia Challenger, where he was out-paced by Titouan Droguet during the finals, hence his runner-up finish after a 3-6, 4-6 loss. After two early exits in Bergamo and Helsinki Challengers, both of which were indoor hard tournaments, Cobolli had a semifinal showing in Danderyd by defeating Gilles Arnaud Bailly in the first round 6-4, 6-1, advanced to the quarterfinals at the cost of Gauthier Onclin’s withdrawal before winning against Radu Albot 6-4, 7-6(5) in a close encounter that confirmed his NextGen Finals qualification, but was overwhelmed when dealing with eventual champion Maximilian Marterer’s serve+1s in the semifinal.

5. Alex Michelsen

Alex Michelsen in Newport, where he became the runner-up to Adrian Mannarino (📸 ATP Tour)

Alex Michelsen's point to break 2-0 in the second set of the Rome, GA Challenger quarterfinals against Edan Leshem (top left), to take the second set 6-1 in the second Cary Challenger second round against Strong Kirchheimer (top right), and to *2-3 30-30 in the first set of the Knoxville Challenger second round against Gabriel Debru (bottom) (📸 ATP Challenger Livestream).

Starting the year precisely at World No. 600, A. Michelsen’s rise started in the Rome, Georgia (USA) Challenger in February, where he became the runner-up to Jordan Thompson 4-6, 2-6 right after becoming the runner-up of the ITF M25 Malibu (Jan 2) and winning the ITF M15 Edmond, Oklahoma (Jan 23), followed by a semifinal showing in Waco Challenger a week after Rome, GA, which earned him the wild card to the Indian Wells M1000 qualifying (l. Leandro Riedi in Q1). After another solid showing in the ITFs (including a runner-up in M25 Calabasas-Mar 20), A. Michelsen started to get out of his comfort zone and tried the Nottingham Challenger in the grass courts of the United Kingdom (l. Gabriel Diallo in R2 6-3, 5-7, 2-6 as a qualifier) and had a competitive appearance in Mallorca (250) as a qualifier (l. Christopher Eubanks in R1 3-6, 7-6(5), 5-7) before winning his maiden Challenger title in Chicago (d. Yuta Shimizu 7-5, 6-2), further strengthening his explosive and intuitive play as the year progressed.

A week after his Chicago Challenger title, he became a runner-up in the grass courts of Newport (250), where Adrian Mannarino eventually won 6-2, 6-4 and after notably defeating Maxime Cressy, James Duckworth, Mackenzie McDonald, and John Isner from the first round until the semifinals. However, the next few tournaments became tricky with the Top 100 in sight, including a semifinal loss against eventual champion Zachary Svajda in the Cary 2 Challenger. He then got his rewards to finally enter the Top 100 for the first time after winning the Knoxville Challenger title, when he survived four three-setters in five rounds, defeating Denis Kudla 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 as the pinnacle, solidified his position by defeating Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-0 in the Champaign Challenger’s first round in a rematch of their last week’s close encounter in Knoxville. Ultimately, A. Michelsen became the runner-up of the Champaign Challenger to Patrick Kypson, where he confirmed his NextGen Finals participation, as well as his Australian Open 2024 main draw direct entry likelihood thanks to his Top 100 year-end finish, landing at 94 live.

6. Hamad Medjedovic

Hamad Medjedovic celebrated after defeating Jiri Lehecka in Astana (250) for the biggest win in his career (by then) (📸 ATP Tour via Kazakhstan Tennis Federation)

Hamad Medjedovic's point to 6-5* 15-30 in the second set of the Bengaluru Challenger semifinal against Max Purcell (top left, 📸 ATP Challenger Livestream), to create the break point to *0-1 40-ad in the second qualifying round of Roland Garros against Juan Manuel Cerundolo (top right, 📸 France TV Sport), and to 6-5* 15-0 in the third set of the Danderyd Challenger second round against Jakub Mensik (bottom, 📸 ATP Challenger)

Medjedovic came a long way after his rise last year, winning the Luedenscheid Challenger 2022 by double-breadsticking Zhizhen Zhang, steadily answering the doubt on whether or not he’s breaking even, even if he has Novak Djokovic’s support. After having a slow start to the season (and an even slower second semester of 2022), he started having deep runs in the Bengaluru Challenger, where he was eliminated in the semifinal against eventual champion Max Purcell 2-6, 7-5, 6-7(4). However, he then started his stellar Challenger clay season with a title in Szekesfehervar Challenger (d. Nino Serdarusic 6-4, 6-3), followed by another title in Mauthausen (d. Filip Misolic 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4) in a rain-ridden dramatic match. To top it off, he qualified for the Roland Garros and Wimbledon but got eliminated against Marcos Giron and Christopher O’Connell in the first round, respectively.

Trying to rise the ranks to the main Tour, he followed those up by having several great runs in the 250s and the Challengers in the second half of 2023, carried by his powerful serve and forehands when they are on (and occasionally, drop shots and volleys to add to his intuitive play). He started with a semifinal run in Gstaad as a qualifier (l. Pedro Cachin 3-6, 1-6, with a notable win against Dominic Thiem in the second round in a rematch of their Mauthausen Challenger semifinal encounter, as well as winning the Mallorca Challenger (d. Harold Mayot 6-2, 4-6, 6-2). He topped those runs off with a semifinal run in Astana (250) (l. Sebastian Korda, with some notable wins against Alexander Shevchenko and Jiri Lehecka in the second round and quarterfinals, respectively) despite the early exits in the last 3 250-level tournaments (Antwerp (250) R1, Basel (500) Q1, and Sofia (250) R1). Subsequently, after defeating Stefano Travaglia 6-4, 6-3 in a chaotic first-round match, he was defeated by fellow up-and-coming NextGen player Jakub Mensik 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(8) in the second round, having his 3 match points saved, 2 of them in the second set and one when he should have served for the match. Recognizing his tremendous potential through his aggressive gameplay and often reliable serves, while his usual rollercoaster could be expected, it all depended on his intuition in handling the point construction within the longer rallies if he could not keep it short.

7. Luca Nardi

Luca Nardi won the Porto Challenger title in August this year, gifting himself his birthday present after three hard-fought sets (📸 ATP Tour via Porto Open)

Luca Nardi's point to 6-5* 0-15 in the third set of the Pune Challenger semifinal against Dominik Palan (left) and to take the third set 7-5 in Kobe Challenger against August Holmgren (right) (📸 ATP Challenger Livestream)

Another name with potential being further discovered since last year is Luca Nardi, who answered the doubts coming from his sloppy start of the year by making strides toward the end of the year, thus rewarded with NextGen Finals qualification. He exited in early rounds in the first one-two months of the calendar before reaching the finals of the Pune Challenger, where he became the runner-up to a red-hot Max Purcell 3-6, 2-6. The rollercoaster then continued to the clay season, where he was remembered for being double-bageled by Lorenzo Musetti during the second round as a qualifier during the Monte Carlo M1000, as well as advancing to at least the quarterfinals in several Challengers, notably in Vicenza (l. Pablo Llamas Ruiz) and Milan (l. Matteo Gigante).

Realizing the whole rollercoaster, L. Nardi’s more offensive approach to complement his defenses and return depth started to pay off in Porto Challenger back in August, where he pulled a comeback win against Joao Sousa 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 as a sweet birthday present he gifted himself. Since then, his trajectory has gone back on track by being the semifinalist of the Bratislava 2 Challenger (l. Joris de Loore) and finally took the title in the Matsuyama Challenger in another comeback fashion (d. Taro Daniel 3-6, 6-4, 6-2), securing his NextGen Finals place after his second-round victory in the Kobe Challenger just to start the week (d. August Holmgren 6-3, 3-6, 7-5) before falling to Sho Shimabukuro to the semifinals, showing that his decision to partake in the Japanese Challenger swing paid off for his almost last-minute qualification.

8. Abdullah Shelbayh [WC]

Abdullah Shelbayh during his first-round match in Doha (250) (📸 The Hindu via Abdullah Shelbayh's Instagram post)

Abdullah Shelbayh's point to *5-2 40-40 (one of the break points saves) in the second set of the second-round Tenerife 3 Challenger match against Ryan Peniston (top left), to break 5-2 in the second set of the Manama Challenger semifinal against Salvatore Caruso (top right), and to *0-0 40-ad (second break point) in the Charleston Challenger final against Oliver Crawford (bottom) (📸 ATP Challenger Livestream)

Hailing from Jordan and training in Rafa Nadal Academy under Princess Lara Faisal’s Rise for Good Foundation, Shelbayh exceptionally started the season as a runner-up of the ITF M25 Manacor against Daniel Rincon (Jan 23) in a marathon match to start his positive semester after his remarkable rise kicked off in the second semester of 2022, from winning ITF M25 Monastir on two occasions (Jul 18 & Aug 22, 2022) before closing that year by winning ITF M15 Trnava (Dec 5) against Daniel Rincon, several months after securing his Challenger debut with a semifinal appearance (l. Zizou Bergs, but notably d. 1st seed Dominic Stricker in the first round). The only way was up, which he proved throughout the 2023 season by reaching the second round in Tenerife 3 Challenger as a qualifier (l. Ryan Peniston), ultimately becoming the runner-up in his maiden Challenger final in Manama (l. Thanasi Kokkinakis). He backed this up with his maiden ATP Tour main draw appearance in Doha as a wild card despite the first-round loss against Soonwoo Kwon.

He kept gaining experience as the year passed by from the aforementioned raw potential, making a last-minute decision to partake in the Banja Luka qualification rounds, stunning then-have not broken out (yet) Fabian Marozsan and Lukas Klein in both qualifying rounds before defeating Elias Ymer 6-1, 7-5 in the first round to record his maiden Tour-level victory (as well as becoming the first Jordanian to win a main Tour match) but was eliminated in the hands of Miomir Kecmanovic. He also qualified for the Mallorca (250) event on grass (l. Roman Safiullin in the first round) and went on to win his maiden Challenger title in Charleston (d. Oliver Crawford 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3), also becoming the first Jordanian Challenger-level champion. His sparkling rise continued through Metz (250) as a qualifier (d. Dan Added & Gijs Brouwer in the qualifying rounds), shocking Hugo Gaston 7-6(5), 6-2 before Lorenzo Sonego defeated him 3-6, 5-7 despite his competitive efforts. Aided by his often impressive point construction (as displayed), when he is on, not only rewarded him his career-high ranking of 187 (attained Nov 20, 2023) but also a wild card to this year’s NextGen Finals as the regional (Middle Eastern) representative.

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