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Legend
The next edition of the Next Gen ATP Sportswashing Finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia will take place in a few weeks' time from December 17-21.
www.nextgenatpfinals.com
Qualification
According to the event website, "The PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah will end on Monday, 10 November 2025." So we should already know who has qualified, but confusingly the ATP has only just started announcing qualified players, and the Live Race to Jeddah page is, confusingly, still updating with current results. So who knows? Last year the race ended on December 2, so perhaps the event website is simply wrong.
The top contenders are clearly going to be Mensik and Tien. Last year, Mensik went 0-3 in a group that included finalists Fonseca and Tien, but this year he leads the field, having been the most successful out of the Next Gen in winning a Masters 1000 title in Miami. Tien and Fonseca also picked up their first titles (Fonseca winning 250 Buenos Aires and 500 Basel, Tien winning 250 Metz). Last year's participant Nishesh Basavareddy is in contention to compete again; Shang Juncheng is also eligible age-wise but has dropped down the rankings following foot surgery.
Last year's champion Fonseca (featured prominently on the poster above) would have been eligible to defend his title, but has withdrawn "as he continues to recover from an injury sustained at the end of the 2025 ATP Tour season". Interestingly, he is due to play in an exhibition before the event takes place, the "2025 Miami Tennis Invitational".
EDIT. The full field has now been confirmed.
Confirmed Players
1. Jakub Menšík (20)
2. João Fonseca (19)
3. Learner Tien (19)
4. Alexander Blockx (20)
5. Dino Prižmić (20)
6. Martín Landaluce (19)
7. Nicolai Budkov Kjær (19)
8. Nishesh Basavareddy (20)
9. Rafael Jódar (19)
Alternates/ next players in line according to the current version of the Live Race to Jeddah page:
10. Rei Sakamoto (19)
11. Justin Engel (18)
Mensik and Tien are already well-known names; will any of the others join them over the years?
Rules and Innovations
EDIT. These are now available for this edition:
Scoring
- First-to-4, Best-of-5 set scoring: Each match shall be the best of 5 tie-break sets. Each set shall be first to 4 games with a margin of 2 games and a tie-break (first to 7 points with a margin of 2) played at 3-3. Each game shall be played using the No-Ad scoring format with the Server choosing the service box.
Changeovers
- There will be no change of ends after the first game.
- Players will change ends and sit down for 90 seconds after the first three games are played, once more if the set score reaches 3:2 (i.e., after two more games in the set), and then again at the end of the set (regardless of the final set score).
- Players will change ends after every six points in the tie-break.
- Players will sit down at the end of the set for 90 seconds, reduced from 120 seconds.
Rules initiatives
- Warm-up: Players will warm up for 3 minutes on court.
- Ball change: After every 7 games.
- Serve Shot Clock: Up to 8 seconds will be permitted between first and second serve. A shot clock will display the time elapsed between the first and second serve.
- Time between Points: The time between points will be reduced from 25 seconds to 15 seconds if a point is below three shots (e.g., 2 shots = 15 seconds; 3 shots = 25 seconds).
- Free Fan Movement: Free movement will be allowed in the stadium for the first three games of the match. After the first free games, fans will be allowed to move freely except for limited areas behind the baseline in direct player view. Movement by a spectator(s) in the designated free movement areas shall not constitute a legitimate pause in the shot clock.
- Umpire Chair: A lower umpire chair will be continued to be used to reduce the visual obstruction for fans in the arena.
Innovation initiatives
In-arena data analytics: more match statistics and analytics will be available to fans, players and coaches than ever before. The following data will be shown in the arena:
- Traditional tennis statistics including aces, serve percentages, break point performance
- Player performance based upon rally length
- Player Shot Quality broken down by Serve, Return, Forehand, Backhand and Movement.
- Match Insights data detailing which Player has been “In Attack” the most, who has won more points when attacking (“Conversion Score”) and who has won the most points when defending (“Steal Score”)
The data will also be available to the players’ coaches courtside via the ATP’s performance analytics platform, ATP Tennis IQ Powered by PIF, as well as the provision of video footage tagged with match data available post-match.
Home | Next Gen ATP Finals | Tennis
Get live scores, group standings, news, video, player info and more for the Next Gen ATP Finals, the 20-and-under event.
www.nextgenatpfinals.com
Qualification
According to the event website, "The PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah will end on Monday, 10 November 2025." So we should already know who has qualified, but confusingly the ATP has only just started announcing qualified players, and the Live Race to Jeddah page is, confusingly, still updating with current results. So who knows? Last year the race ended on December 2, so perhaps the event website is simply wrong.
The top contenders are clearly going to be Mensik and Tien. Last year, Mensik went 0-3 in a group that included finalists Fonseca and Tien, but this year he leads the field, having been the most successful out of the Next Gen in winning a Masters 1000 title in Miami. Tien and Fonseca also picked up their first titles (Fonseca winning 250 Buenos Aires and 500 Basel, Tien winning 250 Metz). Last year's participant Nishesh Basavareddy is in contention to compete again; Shang Juncheng is also eligible age-wise but has dropped down the rankings following foot surgery.
Last year's champion Fonseca (featured prominently on the poster above) would have been eligible to defend his title, but has withdrawn "as he continues to recover from an injury sustained at the end of the 2025 ATP Tour season". Interestingly, he is due to play in an exhibition before the event takes place, the "2025 Miami Tennis Invitational".
EDIT. The full field has now been confirmed.
Confirmed Players
1. Jakub Menšík (20)
3. Learner Tien (19)
4. Alexander Blockx (20)
5. Dino Prižmić (20)
6. Martín Landaluce (19)
7. Nicolai Budkov Kjær (19)
8. Nishesh Basavareddy (20)
9. Rafael Jódar (19)
Alternates/ next players in line according to the current version of the Live Race to Jeddah page:
10. Rei Sakamoto (19)
11. Justin Engel (18)
Mensik and Tien are already well-known names; will any of the others join them over the years?
Rules and Innovations
EDIT. These are now available for this edition:
Scoring
- First-to-4, Best-of-5 set scoring: Each match shall be the best of 5 tie-break sets. Each set shall be first to 4 games with a margin of 2 games and a tie-break (first to 7 points with a margin of 2) played at 3-3. Each game shall be played using the No-Ad scoring format with the Server choosing the service box.
Changeovers
- There will be no change of ends after the first game.
- Players will change ends and sit down for 90 seconds after the first three games are played, once more if the set score reaches 3:2 (i.e., after two more games in the set), and then again at the end of the set (regardless of the final set score).
- Players will change ends after every six points in the tie-break.
- Players will sit down at the end of the set for 90 seconds, reduced from 120 seconds.
Rules initiatives
- Warm-up: Players will warm up for 3 minutes on court.
- Ball change: After every 7 games.
- Serve Shot Clock: Up to 8 seconds will be permitted between first and second serve. A shot clock will display the time elapsed between the first and second serve.
- Time between Points: The time between points will be reduced from 25 seconds to 15 seconds if a point is below three shots (e.g., 2 shots = 15 seconds; 3 shots = 25 seconds).
- Free Fan Movement: Free movement will be allowed in the stadium for the first three games of the match. After the first free games, fans will be allowed to move freely except for limited areas behind the baseline in direct player view. Movement by a spectator(s) in the designated free movement areas shall not constitute a legitimate pause in the shot clock.
- Umpire Chair: A lower umpire chair will be continued to be used to reduce the visual obstruction for fans in the arena.
Innovation initiatives
In-arena data analytics: more match statistics and analytics will be available to fans, players and coaches than ever before. The following data will be shown in the arena:
- Traditional tennis statistics including aces, serve percentages, break point performance
- Player performance based upon rally length
- Player Shot Quality broken down by Serve, Return, Forehand, Backhand and Movement.
- Match Insights data detailing which Player has been “In Attack” the most, who has won more points when attacking (“Conversion Score”) and who has won the most points when defending (“Steal Score”)
The data will also be available to the players’ coaches courtside via the ATP’s performance analytics platform, ATP Tennis IQ Powered by PIF, as well as the provision of video footage tagged with match data available post-match.
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