The ATP Next Gen Championships Conundrum

2017 has proved a very interesting year for mens tennis.  We have seen a revival of two of the games greats in Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

This came almost out of the blue and quite unexpected as the clock was turned back; because not since 2010 has Roger and Rafa won all of the grand slam tournaments in a single season and occupied the top two positions in world tennis. Let us consider that the top two players are 31 and 36 years old respectively.

This is ironic as this is the first year the “Next Gen” ATP championships take place in Milan in early November. A tournament devised by the ATP who recognises that there is a problem in mens tennis. That problem being there seems to be no new stars coming through and that has to be addressed in some way.  Many of the changes that have been implemented by the ATP over the last 15 to 20 years have allowed those at the top to stay at the top even longer than in previous generations, which has left a vacuum and dearth of players coming through.  Changes such as the slowing down of hardcourts and grass courts, the removal of indoor carpet from the circuit, the increase in the seeding system and the inflation of ranking points for Masters and Grand slam victories meant that it has become very difficult for young players to penetrate the top positions especially as the changes have directly contributed to a convergence in style of play.  The media have focused so much on the “Big Four” that the casual tennis fan and general public have no idea who the younger players are or indeed the players just below the top level. So, who qualifies to participate in the Next Gen championships?

• ·         The best 7 singles players on the ATP tour age 21 and under by stint of ranking.
• ·         One space reserved for a wildcard pick

However it doesn’t stop there, the ATP sees this as an ideal opportunity to use the tournament to trial some potential changes to the tour in future years. 

• ·     Matches will be best of five sets
• ·     Sets will be first to four games
• ·     Tiebreak at 3:3
• ·      No ad scoring (receivers choice)
• ·      No Lets
• ·      A shot clock to ensure 25 second rule
• ·      One medical timeout per match
• ·      Coaches will be able to talk to players
• ·      There will be no Line Judges, Hawkeye technology to call lines

The players qualified for the inaugural tournament are:

Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Dennis Shapovalov, Jared Donaldson, Borna Coric, Hyeon Chung, Damil Medvedev and wildcard is Gianluigi Quinzi. 

Alexander Zverev qualified for the ATP World Tour finals in London so is the only young player competing and winning tournaments at the highest level.

The first inclination is that this tournament appears to be a gimmick; and the criticism of the draw in Milan over the weekend doesn’t help matters at all.  However, rather interestingly and surprisingly, the tournament is using these players as guinea pigs to trial changes that we might see in future years. I suppose using young players in this exercise is the best way to go about it as younger minds are usually open to changes or trying things out. Having said that, such potentially profound changes usually take place in trials at much lower levels, away from public view in most sports.

The key question is why are the ATP doing this?  As an indication of how things have changed, at the age of 21, Roger Federer was being openly questioned as to whether he had what it takes to be a champion. Similarly, when Andre Agassi won Wimbledon at the age of 22 he was almost written off at that stage as an underachiever. Today, players aged 25 are considered “young”. There have been campaigns before to promote young talent to the public such as the “New Balls” campaign in 2001 to promote Safin, Hewitt, Federer, Roddick, Haas and Kuerten.  The last player under the age of 21 to win a major tournament was Novak Djokovic when he won the Australian Open in 2008.

Why is it deemed necessary for young players to have their own tournament?  That’s why we have junior tennis for precisely that reason. I am not sure how this tournament will help these guys take on the big players on the tour.  The ATP should focus on ways to make the tour more interesting and diverse and encourage different styles of play.  The only way to achieve that is make the surfaces different speeds for a few select tournaments; and as ex-champion Thomas Muster pointed out, sanction a lighter ball on the slower surfaces which will allow winners to be hit more readily and not reward defence at all times.

We will watch this week’s events with interest to see who comes out as the winner. The big question will be whether the inaugural winner of this event will take confidence into Masters and grand slam tournaments in 2018, which is what it should be all about.  Also, the other question has to be how many of these ideas are the ATP intending to introduce to the tour in the next two to three seasons?  Right now there is a big difference between the grand slam tournaments run by the ITF and ATP tournaments. Bar the US Open the majors do not have no ad scoring for doubles and no champions’ tiebreak.  

This is a reminder that the ATP and WTA must never be allowed to usurp the ITF and gain control of the grand slam tournaments.