Scouting Report: The Next Gen ATP Finals Field

The third edition of the Next Gen ATP Finals is the strongest field in the tournament’s short history.

The Milan field will include four players who have made an appearance inside the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings this season and for the first time all eight players will be ranked inside the Top 100. Here is a look at the outstanding field assembled:

Alex de Minaur
The Aussie is the youngest three-time ATP Tour champion in 2019, and one of only six players to capture at least three tour-level trophies this season. Last year’s Milan finalist reached a career-high No. 18 on 28 October, and he has a career-high 34 wins.

De Minaur, who has earned his first three Top 10 victories this season, was outside the Top 200 this time two years ago.

Frances Tiafoe
The 2018 Delray Beach champion cracked the Top 30 in the ATP Rankings at No. 29 on 11 February. That breakthrough came after Tiafoe reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the Australian Open, a run during which he defeated then-World No. 6 Kevin Anderson and 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov.

Tiafoe reached five tour-level quarter-finals this season, and this is the second straight year in which he qualified for the Next Gen ATP Finals.

Miomir Kecmanovic
This former junior World No. 1 reached his first ATP Tour final in Antalya. He earned all 22 of his career tour-level wins this year, and climbed to a career-high No. 47 on 9 September.

Kecmanovic was the last Serbian man remaining at the BNP Paribas Open, where he advanced to the fourth round. He claimed his first Top 10 triumph against Alexander Zverev in Cincinnati.

Ugo Humbert
This Frenchman was the last player to miss out on a spot at the Next Gen ATP Finals last year, and he used that as motivation to make his Milan debut in 2019.

Humbert reached his first three ATP Tour semi-finals this season, and he broke into the Top 50 after reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon. He climbed to a career-high No. 46 on 22 July.

Casper Ruud
This Norwegian is following in the footsteps of his father and coach, former World No. 39 Christian Ruud. He reached his first ATP Tour final in Houston, and also made two semi-finals and two quarter-finals in 2019, while winning a personal-best 22 matches.

Ruud ascended to a personal-best ATP Ranking of No. 54 on 12 August, 15 spots off his father’s top mark.

Mikael Ymer
The Swede, brother of fellow player Elias Ymer, captured his first four ATP Challenger Tour titles this year with a 39-10 record, and he will be the first player from his country to finish inside the Top 100 of the year-end ATP Rankings since No. 13 Robin Soderling in 2011.

Ymer was World No. 288 when the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals took place. Now he is World No. 74.

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
This Spaniard climbed 149 ATP Ranking spots to his career-high of No. 82 by reaching his first ATP Tour semi-final in Estoril and winning two ATP Challenger Tour titles. He earned a 34-11 Challenger record this year.

It is the second consecutive year in which a Spaniard has competed in Milan, after Jaume Munar made the semi-finals of this event last year.

Jannik Sinner
This 18-year-old Italian wild card is the youngest player in the field. He won two ATP Challenger Tour titles this season, the first of which made him the youngest Italian Challenger winner.

Sinner, who claimed his first ATP Masters 1000 win in Rome this year, is the youngest player in the Top 100.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/32eEv2v