The Next Gen Masters, with an ever more innovative format, saw Frenchman Arthur Fils fail in the final against Serbian Hamad Mededovic. Summary of the tournament.
Arthur Fils’ perfect week was spoiled, in the final, by Hamad Medjedovic. The 110th player in the world defeated the French prodigy after the suspense and a fight lasting more than two hours (3-4, 4-1, 4-2, 3-4, 4-1). A deserved success for Viktor Troiki’s protégé, as he was impressive on his faceoffs throughout the week. Like Arthur Fils, he had won all his group matches, and was even given a respite thanks to Dominic Stricker’s withdrawal in the semi-final, after barely more than a set. For his part, Fils had dismissed his compatriot Luca Van Assche (2-4, 4-1, 4-3, 4-3) in the semi-final, who also had hopes of a title but had already been beaten by Medjedovic in a match of chicken.
Bringing together the eight best players under the age of 22, the tournament has in the past crowned some of the best tennis players of the moment: Stefanos Tsitsipas (2018), Jannik Sinner (2019), Carlos Alcaraz (2021). This year, the two main contenders, at least the highest ranked, were French, while the Next Gen Masters took place for the first time in Saudi Arabia. But they therefore came across a Hamad Medjedovic in full progress, at a level of play well above his rank (110th in the world), with formidable service and power. The two tricolors will be able to draw on this failure to prepare for a 2024 season which announces, more than confirmation, new levels to overcome.
Sets of four games, no warm-up before matches, eight seconds between each serve, no equality in games… Many innovations are being tested again this season. Many of these experiments aim to limit downtime and shorten matches, but some of them are unpopular with the players themselves.
Like most players, Arthur Fils is not a fan at all of the lack of warm-up on court: “I spent a few minutes with my coaches, but by the time I came to the center from court no. 1, with extra air conditioning… You don’t arrive as hot as usual.” Generally speaking, the young Frenchman is far from convinced by the set of rules tested by the ATP: “It’s the first time I’ve played in this format, the dynamics can change so quickly. These rules are really weird . I don’t think we’ll ever see them on the ATP circuit.”
To the point of not really taking the tournament seriously: “It’s a pretty prestigious tournament to win, but I don’t focus 100% on it like if it was the normal circuit or a Grand Slam.” To make matters worse for the very mixed results of this start of the tournament, the stands are empty or almost empty, and the screens supposed to allow coaches to access videos and statistical data in real time were broken at the start of the week.
