Top-Ranked NextGen ATP Doubles Players Watch

travlerajm

travlerajm

Talk Tennis Guru
There is no current NextGen (under-30) player in the ATP Doubles Top 20 (as of Feb 21, 2024).

Who among the NextGen will rise?

Players at career high ranking in bold.

Updated 16-JUL-2025:

1. (4) Julian Cash, GBR
2. (5) Henry Patten, GBR
3 (19) Max Purcell, AUS
4. (25) Fabien Reboul, FRA
5. (37) Jan Zielinski, POL
6. (40) Alexander Erler, AUT
7. (42) Francisco Cabral, POR
8. (43) Lucas Miedler, AUT
9. (46) Rafael Matos, BRA
10. (50) Manuel Guinard, FRA
11. (53) Theo Arribage, FRA
12. (56) Rinky Hijikata, AUS
13. (60) Constantin Frantzen, GER
14. (61) Orlando Luz, BRA
15. (62) Petr Nouza, CZE
15. (62) Patrik Rikl, CZE
 
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Purcell said he hates doubles, after winning a slam w ebden. I think he's the most talented dubs player on the list. He's like jack sock: loads of talent but wants to be a singles player.

Vavasorri and Zielinski are the 2 on the list that are already in the top echelon of teams.

Cash/Galloway just ended ram/Salisbury's never ending win streak (since the USO last September).
 
@travlerajm saw that Cabral and Patten are not playing together in the current tournament (forget which one). Patten is partnering Evans and Cabral is partnering Borges. That ended quickly. Still surprised that Cash and Patten split after having so much success last year.
 
Didn't Zielinski partner Hsieh at the AO? If that was him, I watched some of their matches, and he's a great dubs player. Granted, she carried them, but he was solid. Didn't realize how young he was.
 
Updated:
A familar face re-teams with an old partner and slides into the #15 NextGen slot (63).
 
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Nothing like trying to watch some quality doubles and then the camera operators skip the good stuff. They have footage and audio right behind the serving side so we can see what the signals are and what the play is but then they cut away, it’s obnoxious.

Viewing quality would be so much higher and so much more interesting if they would stay on the wide shot and let the viewer in on the action. It’s like watching poker, it’s way more interesting when they cut to the hands so you know what everyone has and can appreciate the strategy and plays more
 
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Not much movement on the NextGen list in the last 2 weeks. But notably, Zielinski has moved back up to #19 to give the NextGen an ATP Top 20 representantive.
 
travlerajm said:
Some partner switching has been in the works, and could impact the NextGen watch list.
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Who are we talking about? Patten partnering heliovaara? I thought I saw heliovaara is playing w peers in monte Carlo.

Edit: I was wrong: they're not playing MC.
 
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Not much movement on the under-30 Top15 list, but the bottom 2 guys quietly have won their last 11 doubles matches combined. JT will graduate from the list when he turns 30 next week.
 
There’s been some ranking compression at the bottom of the list, with a NextGen player quietly on an active 9-match win streak spanning 3 tourneys.
 
At the top of the list, Zielinksy creeps up to atp #16.

At the bottom, Triple Z enters the Top15 NextGen list for the first time, replacing Jordan Thompson, who loses his spot by celebrating his 30th Bday.
 
Trav, are you following Simon freund? He has a YT channel. He and his partner Jo inglidssen (sp?) just won their first challenger in Tallahassee, beating Will Blumberg and partner. Their first challenger was earlier this year. Now, they're in the final in savannah vs Marcus Willis and Christian Harrison.
 
Rublev and Kachanov, lose their points and drop off the list. This makes room for Griekspoor to re-enter the NextGen Top-15 list, and Machac to join the list for the first time.
 
travlerajm said:
Rublev and Kachanov, lose their points and drop off the list. This makes room for Griekspoor to re-enter the NextGen Top-15 list, and Machac to join the list for the first time.
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Griekspoor playing w Hubie should earn him a few more points. He's playing w Koolhof in Madrid, which would guarantee him points, but they matched up vs granollers/Zeballos in round 1.
 
Update:

Some shuffling on the NextGen Top 15 list with 6 of the 15 at career high.

- Italian Vavassori enters the ATP Top 20 for the first time.

- British players Cash and Patten are surging, winning Bordeaux and Turin in parallel this morning.

- American Seb Korda joins the list for the first time.
 
travlerajm said:
Update:

Some shuffling on the NextGen Top 15 list with 6 of the 15 at career high.

- Italian Vavassori enters the ATP Top 20 for the first time.

- British players Cash and Patten are surging, winning Bordeaux and Turin in parallel this morning.

- American Seb Korda joins the list for the first time.
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Interesting that they're doing it w different partners this year. Heliovaara is no surprise to winning at high level dubs. Vavassori has a veteran partner to help him, too.

Didn't realize reboul is in his 20s. He and his partner are playing well this year.
 
ey039524 said:
@travlerajm saw that Cabral and Patten are not playing together in the current tournament (forget which one). Patten is partnering Evans and Cabral is partnering Borges. That ended quickly. Still surprised that Cash and Patten split after having so much success last year.
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OP has no specific information on Cash or Patten. Please move along.
 
GAS said:
OP has no specific information on Cash or Patten. Please move along.
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A good Sunday morning for our team, defeating two ex #1s in straight sets on the same day.

Patten/Heliovaara recovered from triple-match point down in the match tiebreak to vanquish a nemesis in the quarters.

Cash/Galloway also saved multiple match points en route to their first clay court title together.
 
There has been a gradual group creep upward in the rankings of the best 15 under-30 players since I started this thread.

As of today, for the first time since starting the watch, the 15th spot on the NextGen doubles list, currently occupied by ex Baylor player Connie Frantzen from Germany, is within the Top 60 in the overall atp rankings.
 
Patten, who started this year outside my Top-15 NextGen list, extends his 5-match red clay winning streak by taking out the veteran Belgian duo, last year’s RG finalists.
 
Patten looks like a talented guy and I guess is not even too close to the age at which doubles players tend to peak.

I must say it's funny looking at the doubles rankings at https://live-tennis.eu/en/atp-doubles-live-ranking and seeing how a large majority of these top players are not only in their 30s but typically in their late 30s! Several players in their 40s holding on in the top 50 too (Bopanna, Ram, Roger-Vasselin, Santiago González, Máximo gonzález, Rojer, Melo...)

It really ain't a young player's game.
 
Wander said:
Patten looks like a talented guy and I guess is not even too close to the age at which doubles players tend to peak.

I must say it's funny looking at the doubles rankings at https://live-tennis.eu/en/atp-doubles-live-ranking and seeing how a large majority of these top players are not only in their 30s but typically in their late 30s! Several players in their 40s holding on in the top 50 too (Bopanna, Ram, Roger-Vasselin, Santiago González, Máximo gonzález, Rojer, Melo...)

It really ain't a young player's game.
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Just like usta 4.5 league, where the old farts hold down the doubles slots and the kids handle the singles.
 
I expect Vavassori to do well, considering their form lately.

Patten, Purcell, Zielinski, Vliegen (is he considered next gen?), I expect to do well, although Purcell has been absent lately. I see he's teamed up w Thompson, who won w korda recently.

It's interesting to see how the most successful next gens have teamed up w more veteran players.

Even though lammons and withrow are 30, they seem like the exception, in that they're both young and climbed the rankings together.
 
Some movement on the list with the first week of RG coming to a close.

Vavassori moves to CH #16 to lead the NextGen flag

Patten, who started the season outside this list, leapfrogs up to CH #41.

And new faces join the list for the first time, with Machac and Mansouri having solid wins to move up to new CHs.

The atp ranking of the 15th slot on my list continues to creep up, now at #59.
 
Vavassori moves into the ATP Top 10, with a chance to go higher in the RG final today.

And Cash launched into the grass season by claiming his second Surbiton trophy today.
 
It’s now been 4 months since I started this thread.

Progress from Feb ‘24 to Jun ‘24:

NextGen in Top 20: 0 to 1
Rank of best NextGen: 21 to 10
Rank of 15th best NextGen: 65 to 59

Can they make further gains this summer?
 
Updated.

Not too much news, but the group continues to creep upward together, with 5 of the bottom 6 on the list at career high.
 
Update:

A record (since starting the watch), 7 of the the Top 15 next-genners at career high.

Patten nudges up to #7 slot on the list after extending his win streak with Heliovaara to 11 consecutive match starts and counting.

German big man Hendrik Jebens enters the list for first time, edging the #15 slot up to ATP #58.
 
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Vavassori/Bolleli are probably the hottest team this year. Which of the singles players do you think would make good doubles players when if/when they quit trying to make it at singles?

Purcell is my top pick, although he says he hates doubles. He reminds me of Sock. Hurkacz is a great doubles player.
 
ey039524 said:
Vavassori/Bolleli are probably the hottest team this year. Which of the singles players do you think would make good doubles players when if/when they quit trying to make it at singles?

Purcell is my top pick, although he says he hates doubles. He reminds me of Sock. Hurkacz is a great doubles player.
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Purcell is still the best NextGen doubles player until someone else proves otherwise.
 
Updated:

This week’s biggest climber is Julian Cash, jumping from #10 to #6 on the NextGen rankings, with new career high atp #39. He and Galloway capture their first career grass 250 title in Mallorca today.
 
Updated since yesterday:

Vavassori, Cash, Patten, & Machac inch up higher in the rankings to new career highs the day before Wimbledon. Vavassori gives the NextGen a representative with single digit atp ranking for the first time since starting the watch.

Vavassori and Patten will face off for the first time in R64.
 
In the opening doubles match of the tourney, the World #1 team in the race of Vavassori/Bolleli had an unlucky first round draw, with Patten/Heliovaara upsetting a top-5 seed in R1 for the second consecutive slam. Patten slides up to the #6 slot in the NextGen rankings.
 
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Brasileño Rafael Matos teamed with his 6’8” giraffe countryman Melo to open his Wimbledon account with a victory, leapfrogging back ahead of Patten into the #6 slot on the NextGen list.

And Francisco Cabral of Portugal teamed up with crafty old Colombian Nicolas Barrientos to upset the recent World #1 team of Dodig/Krajicek.

With both seeds ousted on Day 1, this 8th of the draw is ripe for a new NextGenner to emerge.
 
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