Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, 2021, Milan, Italy

tented

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DATE: November 9-13, 2021
SURFACE: Hard
PRIZE MONEY: $1,300,000
FIELD SIZE: 8
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Jannik Sinner (2019)

Group A:

Carlos Alcaraz
Brandon Nakashima
Juan Manuel Cerundolo
Holger Rune

Group B:


Sebastian Korda
Lorenzo Musetti
Sebastian Baez
Hugo Gaston

allianz-cloud-milano-1199x800.jpg


The Tournament:

The 2021 Next Generation ATP Finals (also known as the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals for sponsorship reasons) is an upcoming men's exhibition tennis tournament for the best singles players on the 2021 ATP Tour who are age 21 and under. It is scheduled to be held from 9 to 13 November 2021 in Milan, Italy at the PalaLido. It will be the 4th edition of the event.

About Milan:

Milan is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second most populous city proper in Italy after Rome, and the wealthiest. It is the largest European economy among non-capital cities. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million while its metropolitan city has 3.26 million inhabitants. Its continuously built-up urban area, that stretches well beyond the boundaries of the administrative metropolitan city and into Switzerland, is the fourth largest in the EU with 5.27 million inhabitants.

Milan is considered a leading alpha global city, with strengths in the fields of art, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research and tourism. Its business district hosts Italy's stock exchange (Italian: Borsa Italiana), and the headquarters of national and international banks and companies. In terms of GDP, it has the third-largest economy among EU cities after Paris and Madrid, and is the wealthiest among EU non-capital cities. Milan is viewed along with Turin as the southernmost part of the Blue Banana urban development corridor (also known as the "European Megalopolis"), and one of the Four Motors for Europe.

Milan.Proper.Wikipedia.Image.png


Tourism Guide:

 
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Fiero425

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Shheeesshhh! No one watching the NG's? Carlos A. had no trouble with Rune winning in 3 straight sets! Korda's struggling to hang on down 2 sets to 1 to Gaston! They're in a 4th set TB at the moment! Gaston blows lead in TB; now in a 5th set! Update: Korda wins in 5 sets! :astonished-face: :anxious-face-with-sweat::face-with-hand-over-mouth::fearful-face::facepalm:
 
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Kieran

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This always reminds me of Thierry Tulasne, who won junior Wimbledon in 1985. He went on to have a good career as a coach. The 1985 senior Wimbledon champion had a more interesting and distinguished career. He was younger than the junior champ that year.

In other words, maybe the kid who wins this will have a great career in tennis, but winning this means nothing, really, and tells us nothing about the future of the game…

EDIT: It wasn’t Tulasne that year, it was a young man (still older than Becker) called Leopoldo Lavelle…wonderful name, but not memorable enough as a player to make me remember him..

EDIT: so memorable that I forgot his name again. He’s Leonardo, not Leopoldo. Still a beautiful name, and more distinguished than I’ll ever be in tennis…
 
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Moxie

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Three that qualified for Milan and are not playing are Sinner and FAA (who both chose to play Stockholm instead,) and Jensen Brooksby. He withdrew from Bercy, so maybe injured, or exhausted from playing so much tennis in his breakthrough year?
 

Moxie

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Never heard of Sebastian Baez of Argentina, btw.
 

Moxie

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Why can't these players,play real sets of tennis? there not children...geez.
Agreed...I hate the format. I think it was originally an excuse for the ATP to try out a shorter format and see how people liked it. A way to speed up play? But I think they should give it up and play "real" tennis now.
 

JesuslookslikeBorg

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alcaraz zooms into the sf along with korda who is/almost there. :flexed-biceps:

so the wins/losses count in the career w/l stats but zero rank points on offer .okaaaaayy then.. :thinking-face:

and playing a wankerman fast tennis format. bleurrgh. :face-vomiting:
 

Carol

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What a point, incredible!

 

Moxie

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Alcaraz v. Korda in the final. Kind of a dream final for me, as I like these two a lot.
 

Carol

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Great day from the Spaniards, Badosa and Alcaraz won and very well deserved! :good::clap:
 

Moxie

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Alcaraz, at still 18, is making quite the statement.
 

El Dude

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Of the guys who have yet to win a big title, Alcaraz has moved up to #2 on my informal list of highest upside going forward, after Sinner and ahead of FAA and the rest. IMO. While he doesn't get any points for the NextGen final, I was surprised to see that he's #21 in the Race rankings - which means he could enter the top 20 while still 18-years old -- he's got until May 5, so I'd be surprised if he didn't.

The last 18-year olds in the top 20 were Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet. Even Delpo, Novak, Andy, Roger, and Hewitt didn't make it until they were 19.

By my accounting, here are the Open Era players to make it to the top 20 as 18-year olds, going back chronologically by birth year:

2003: Carlos Alcaraz (pending)
1986: Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet
1982: Andy Roddick
1974: Andrei Medvedev
1972: Michael Chang (at 17)
1971: Goran Ivanisevic, Pete Sampras
1970: Andre Agassi (17)
1968: Kent Carlsson
1967: Aaron Krickstein (17), Boris Becker (17)
1966: Stefan Edberg
1964: Mats Wilander (17), Jimmy Arias
1960: Ivan Lendl
1959: John McEnroe
1956: Bjorn Borg (17)

As can be seen, the biggest gap by far is that first one, 17 years between Alcaraz and Nadal/Gasquet. There were quite a few of the players born in the 60s and 70s, and thus turning 18 in the 80s and 90s. Michael Chang was the last 17-year old in the top 20.

Or to break it down:
17 18-year olds in the top 20
12 of them (71%) won at least one Slam
9 of them (53%) won 6+ Slams
3 of them (18%) are what @Fiero425 called "Boy Wonders" (Carlsson, Krickstein, Arias) who went on to have rather disappointing, if still solid, careers. I suppose Gasquet could be considered such.

Andrei Medvedev (no relation to Daniil, afaik) won 4 Masters in the mid-90s, but after finishing #6 in 1993 (at age 19), faded and never finished in the top 10 again, despite reaching the 1999 Roland Garros final, losing to Agassi in five sets, despite winning the first two sets 6-1, 6-2. That was after defeating Gustavo Kuerten in the QF.
 
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