Three-time ATP Tour titlist Arthur Fils leads the Blue Group at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah. The Frenchman has been drawn in this group alongside Jakub Mensik, Learner Tien and Joao Fonseca. Second seed Alex Michelsen has been drawn in Red Group with Shang Juncheng, Luca Van Assche and Nishesh Basaraveddy.
The Next Gen Finals will start on 18 November and end with the final on 22 November. The round robin will be held from Wednesday to Friday. The semifinals will take place on Saturday. The final will start at 8 pm local time on Sunday 22 December.
The list of past winners of the Next Gen Finals features Hyeong Chung, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Brandon Nakashima and Hamad Medjedovic.
Blue Group:
Arthur Fils:
Arthur Fils finished runner-up in last year’s edition of the Next Gen Finals losing the championships match against Serbia’s Hamas Medjedovic. Fils starts as the favourite after a breakthrough season. The 20-year-old Frenchman won his first ATP 500 title beating Alexander Zverev in the final of the Hamburg Open in July 2024 after beating second seed Holger Rune in the quarter final and third seed Sebastian Baez in the semifinal. Last September Fils beat top seed Taylor Fritz, Matteo Berrettini, defending champion Matteo Berrettini and sixth seed Holger Rune before beating his compatriot Ugo Humbert in the final in Tokyo to claim his second ATP 500 title and his third career title overall in Tokyo. He achieved three of these four wins in the third set.
Fils is expected to face a tough match against Joao Fonseca, who beat his French rival 6-4 6-0 in Rio de Janeiro last February.
Fils began working at the age of 5 with his father, whom he worked with until the age of 12. His idol growing up was Roger Federer. He now looks up to Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
Jakub Mensik:
Jakub Mensik started the year as the world number 167 in the ATP Ranking. The Czech player reached the second round at the Australian Open. He beat Andy Murray, Andrey Rublev and Gael Monfils en route to his first ATP Tour championships match in Doha. He beat top 10 wins over Andrey Rublev and Grigor Dimitrov to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter final in Shanghai before pushing Novak Djokovic to three sets. Mensik advanced to a quarter final at the indoor ATP 500 quarter final in Vienna. He ended the year at a career-high of number 48.
“The new generation is coming. With Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and all of those young players, when I was practicing or trying to reach the ATP Tour, I saw they reached the level and helps to see that The game is always moving on and all the former Next Gen players, me and the younger players are bringing something new. I like Sinner. He is a tall player like me and is moving so well. It is similar to me. He is similar to me because I am already tall and I can move well on the court. With the forehand, I have a similar technique and style to Jannik”, said Mensik.
Mensik has been named Newcomer of the Year in the 2024 ATP Awards. He joins Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Arthur Fils as recent Newcomer of the Year Award.
“I am super happy and honoured to be the Newcomer of the Year and win this ATP Award. I would like to say a big thank you for the votes and to all the fans around the world for your support”, said Mensik.
Mensik began playing at the age of five and had courts in front of his family house. His favourite tournament is the Australian Open and his favourite city on tour is New York. He considers his best shot as the backhand down the line.
Learner Tien:
Learner Tien will be one of the three US players in the line-up of this year’s Next Gen Finals in Jeddah alongside Alex Michelsen and Nishesh Basavareddy. Tien reached a career-high of number 114 in the ATP Ranking last November. He claimed three ATP Challenger titles in Bloomfield Hills, Lakewood and Las Vegas. He came through the qualifying round to reach the quarter final at the ATP 250 in Winston Salem.
His parents played recreationally. He was coached by his father Khuong until he was brought into the USTA player development.
Joao Fonseca:
Joao Fonseca is the first Brazilian player in history to qualify for the ATP Finals. The 18-year-old player started the 2024 season as the number 727 player and rose to a career-high of world number 146. Fonseca beat Arthur Fils and Christian Garin to reach the quarter final at the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro. He advanced to the quarter final in Bucarest and won the ATP Challenger in Lexington. During the European clay season Fonseca beat Cameron Norrie and Alex Michelsen at the Madrid Mutua Open last May.
Joao Fonseca: “I am living a dream and I have not realized yet what I have achieved yet. I want to keep dreaming. I am really happy with my path until now.
Fonseca was born in Ipanema to parents Roberta and Christiano Fonseca. His father is CEO and was co-founder of IP Capital Partners, the first independent fund in Brazil. Joao started playing tennis at the age of 4 at the Rio de Janeiro Country Club. Joao grew up ten minutes away from the site of the Rio Open.
Red Group:
Luca Van Assche
Luca Van Assche will play for the second consecutive year at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah after reaching the semifinal in 2024. The 20-year-old Frenchman is currently ranked number 128 after reaching the top 100 in April 2023. He advanced to the third round for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open in Melbourne last January. He scored wins at Masters 1000 tournaments in Miami over Pavel Kotov and Madrid over Zizou Bergs and scored eight ATP Tour level wins.
Van Assche began playing tennis at the age of 4 in Aix de Province. He won the boys title at Roland Garros in 2021. He practiced with alternate Martin Landaluce at the King Abdullah Sports City in his build-up to his appearance to the Next Gen Finals. Van Assche combines his tennis career with his studies in mathematics at the Paris Dauphine University. His father is operations director for a shipping company. His mother is an Italian teacher. He has two sisters and one brother.
Luca Van Assche: “Even if I win 50 Grand Slam titles, I will not play when I I am 80, so that’s why I continued. I am also enjoying it. It’s difficult to do both. For the moment. I am sorting it”.
Alex Michelsen:
Alex Michelsen will make his return to Jeddah where he lost his three round-robin matches against Hamad Medjedovic, Abdullah Shelbayh and Arthur Fils. Michelsen reached two ATP Tour finals in Newport and Winston Salem and advanced to the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at the Australian Open. He is currently ranked world number 42. His father Erik is a lawyer and played college tennis at Redlands. His mother is a retired teacher and played college tennis at San Diego State University.
Shang Juncheng:
World number 50 Shang Juncheng became the second the second Chinese player to win an ATP Tour title beating Olympic bronze medallist Lorenzo Musetti in Chengdu last October. The 19-year-old Chinese player also advanced to the semifinals in Hong Kong and Atlanta and lost to Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open.
Shang Juncheng has never faced Mchelsen. They are ranked more than 70 places above Van Assche and Basaraveddy in the ATP Ranking.
Shang’s father was a professional football player. His mother was a table tennis world champion. He started playing tennis at the age of five.
Nishesh Basaraveddy:
Nishesh Basaraveddy reached his 2024 season as world number 457 but he rose to a career-high of world number 138. The 19-year-old US player won two Challenger titles in Tiburon and Puerto Vallarta ending the season on a high-note and reached three more finals in this category. Tien beat Basaraveddy in the semifinal of the Challenger Tournament in Knoxville. Basaraveddy considers former doubles world number 1 Rajeev Ram as his mentor. Basaraveddy and Ram met at a tennis camp run by their mutual coach Bryan Smith. He grew up playing with Alex Michelsen and Learner Tien in Southern California.
Basaraveddy turned pro early in December.
