Who still remembers Chung Hyeon? Six years ago, the South Korean, then around 60th place in the world, won the first edition of the Masters Next Gen, a tournament bringing together the best young people under 22 years old. A few months later, he reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, then reached his best ranking (19th). A rise stopped short by numerous injuries: promised a bright future, the now 27-year-old player has fallen beyond the thousandth place in the world.
A case which is an exception: conversely, the careers of the finalist and the third of this 2017 edition, the Russians Andrey Rublev (5th) and Daniil Medevdev (3rd) took a completely different direction. Just like that of the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (6th), the Italian Jannik Sinner (4th) and the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (2nd), winners respectively in 2018, 2019 and 2021 of the Masters Next Gen, including the sixth edition – that of 2020 was canceled due to Covid-19 – takes place from Tuesday, November 28 to Saturday, December 2 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Since their visit to Milan (Italy), where the event took place until 2022, all five have established themselves permanently in the top 10 and are now among the stars of the circuit. Barely a year after his title, Alcaraz even won his first Major, at the US Open, and became world number 1. This year, they all participated in the Masters in Turin (Italy), the prestigious end-of-year meeting which brings together the eight best players of the season.
Son and Van Assche headline
The Next Gen version was created by the ATP – the body which governs the men’s professional circuit – in 2017 to highlight the new generation set to dethrone the then “Big 4” (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray). The tournament pits the first seven players under 22 in the “Race” – the ranking which takes into account the results of the calendar year – to which is added an eighth talent invited by the organizers. The principle is the same as for the “big guys”: a group stage before the semi-finals and the final.
This year, players born in 2002 and after could therefore claim the precious ticket. While French tennis is in the midst of crossing the desert – no representative has reached the second week of a Grand Slam in 2023 – Arthur Fils (36th) and Luca Van Assche (66th) will be there. Ugo Humbert (20th) and Hugo Gaston (102nd) participated, respectively in 2019 and 2021, but this is the first time that two Tricolores have entered in the same edition. “Having two very complete players at this level, with still a lot of room for improvement, is what everyone expected”rejoices Tatiana Golovin, a former French player who is now a consultant.
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