They have arrived at the big stage, but they are only just getting started: Flavio Cobolli, Arthur Fils, Alex Michelsen, Dominic Stricker and Luca Van Assche are nominees for the Newcomer of the Year in the 2023 ATP Awards, to be announced later this month.

Selected by players, the award goes to the #NextGenATP player who entered the Top 100 for the first time in 2023 and made the biggest impact on the ATP Tour this season.

Flavio Cobolli, 21
“I want to be in the future of tennis, I don’t want to stop,” Cobolli told ATPTour.com after making his Top 100 breakthrough in October.

The Italian earned his second career ATP Challenger Tour title in Lisbon and reached the final in Olbia two weeks later, becoming one of seven players to win at least 40 Challenger-level matches in 2023 (40-26).

“It was of course special, because this year I worked a lot,” Cobolli said of his Lisbon trophy run. “I played 36 weeks, a lot. I was tired but I think that title means a lot for me and for the season. But I don’t want to stop now. I want to push more for the goals of 2024.”

Cobolli qualified for major main-draw debut at Roland Garros, where he fell to then World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. The 21-year-old was also a quarter-finalist at the ATP 250 event in Munich.

Arthur Fils, 19

The youngest champion on the ATP Tour this year? The heavy-hitting Fils, who triumphed on home soil in May at the ATP 250 event in Lyon.

“I will remember this forever,” Fils said after winning the title. Following that dream run, Fils rose into the Top 100 for the first time. He did not stop there.

Despite having zero tour-level wins entering the year, the 19-year-old reached the semi-finals at one ATP 500 and four ATP 250 tournaments in 2023. Fils peaked at World No. 36 in October after reaching the final in Antwerp, where he downed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last four. The Frenchman closed the season with a finalist finish at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM.

“It was a nice year for sure. I started at 250 but finished at 36, so that’s pretty good,” Fils said. “It still could have been better. I lost some close matches, like I did [Saturday] but it’s just experience and I will try to do better next year.”

Fils’ breakthrough season started from day one. He won his first nine matches of the year, including a title run at the Oeiras Challenger. In February, he made the most of opportunities to play at home, reaching the tour-level semi-finals in Montpellier and Marseille.

Alex Michelsen, 19
If you looked at the Top 600 at the start of January, you would not find the American’s name until the final spot: 600.

Michelsen has risen more than 500 spots this year, with a surprise finalist finish in Newport highlighting his season. “I think I’m going to need a month [to process this],” said Michelsen, who did not have an ATP Tour main-draw win before that week. The teen arrived at the grass-court tournament off the back of his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in Chicago.

Michelsen announced in August that he would forego his college eligibility, having previously committed to the University of Georgia. Instead the California native would turn pro and win his first major-main draw match at the US Open before embarking on a late-season surge, winning nine consecutive matches in November with a title run at the Knoxville Challenger followed by a runner-up finish in Champaign.

“If you told me in January, when I was ranked 600 that I would be Top 100 by November, I’d call you crazy,” Michelsen said. “I didn’t think it would happen that quickly. I had a feeling after the Newport run. I got to No. 140 and I thought I could do it by the end of the year, but I still was like, ‘Oh, Top 100 is still kind of far away.’ Now that I’ve done it, it feels great.”

Alex Michelsen at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM.” />

^{Alex Michelsen at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM. Credit: Peter Staples/ATP Tour}
Dominic Stricker, 21
New heights were reached in New York.

Stricker advanced through US Open qualifying en route to a fourth-round appearance at the season’s final major. The Swiss stunned Stefanos Tsitsipas after firing 78 winners in a five-set, second-round thriller that lasted four hours, 10 minutes.

“I was down 3-5 and then I came back in the fourth set. I don’t know how, but I did it somehow and then I kept playing very high level tennis. I am a bit speechless,” Stricker said at the time.

With two ATP Challenger Tour titles to his name in 2023 (Rovereto, Prague), it was the deep run at Flushing Meadows that propelled Stricker into the Top 100 for the first time on 11 September. The 21-year-old became the youngest Swiss to reach the milestone since 20-year-old Stan Wawrinka did so in 2005.

“I feel better on court than I did last year. I feel like my game has improved again,” Stricker told ATPTour.com in August. “I’m also getting fitter body-wise, so that helps for sure. I think off court everything got a bit more serious. I’m also working maybe a little bit harder than I did before. I think everything is more professional than it was and that helps me for sure.”

The lefty earned another Top 10 victory in October, with this triumph coming in front of Stricker’s home crowd, upsetting Casper Ruud in Basel. Stricker closed the season with a second consecutive semi-final appearance at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM.

Luca Van Assche, 19
The final week of the 2022 season was prophetic for the Frenchman, who won his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in Maia to close the year.

Van Assche built upon his momentum, winning two consecutive Challenger titles spanning from February to March, both equally memorable. In Pau, the teenager saved two championship points to defeat countryman Ugo Humbert in the longest Challenger final in history (three hours, 56 minutes). Van Assche then extended his winning streak to 10, triumphing at the Sanremo Challenger to make his Top 100 debut.

“Two years ago, I was like 1,000-something so I don’t think I would’ve expected to be Top 100 now,” Van Assche said in April. “Last year, I was like 400. I was not expecting this maybe a year or two ago. It was very fast. Of course I was dreaming about it. I’m very proud and I just want to be even better now.”

The Brussels-born player continued his breakthrough at the next level, earning his maiden tour-level win in Estoril and getting to the second round of his home Slam, Roland Garros, where he won the 2021 boys’ singles crown. A quarter-finalist in Hamburg and Metz, Van Assche was a semi-finalist at the Next Gen ATP Finals.

^{Luca Van Assche celebrates winning the longest ATP Challenger Tour final in Pau. Credit: Terega Open Pau Pyrenes}

The ATP today published the 2023 year-end Pepperstone ATP Rankings on ATPTour.com with Novak Djokovic finishing as ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone for a record-extending eighth time.

After a back-and-forth battle with Carlos Alcaraz throughout the season, Djokovic clinched the honour at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. The Serbian is now two year-end No. 1 finishes clear of the player with the second-most year-end No. 1 finishes, Pete Sampras (6).

The 36-year-old now owns the three oldest ATP Year-End No. 1 honours in history (since 1973) after accomplishing the feat as a 33-year-old in 2020 and a 34-year-old in 2021.

The Monday after winning his seventh Nitto ATP Finals, Djokovic began his historic 400th week atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Only Roger Federer (310 weeks) has also eclipsed the 300-weeks milestone. Djokovic tied Federer for the most year-end finishes in the Top 3 with 15. This is Djokovic’s 402nd week atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and he is guaranteed to remain No. 1 through the week of 22 January.

The winner of a Tour-leading seven titles this season, Djokovic held the top spot for 28 weeks across four stints. He first returned to No. 1 after winning the Australian Open, less than three months after falling to No. 8. The top spot switched seven times in 2023 between Djokovic and Alcaraz, the most No. 1 changes since 2018, when there were also seven. The only years in which it switched more often were 1983 (10) and 1999 (8). 

The man he exchanged No. 1 with throughout the year, Alcaraz, finished in the year-end Top 2 for the second consecutive year. Twenty-year-old Holger Rune ended the season at No. 8. It is the first time two players aged 20 or younger completed a year in the Top 10 since 20-year-old Marat Safin (No. 2) and 19-year-old Lleyton Hewitt (No. 7) in 2000.

Rune is the lone new face in the year-end Top 10 after climbing to a career-high No. 4 in August. He is the first Danish player in Pepperstone ATP Rankings history (since 1973) to finish in the year-end Top 10.

Frances Tiafoe was the only player in 2023 who cracked the Top 10 for the first time when he ascended to No. 10 in June. It is the second consecutive season in which an American made his Top 10 debut. Taylor Fritz did so last year and has now finished in the Top 10 for two consecutive years.

Nine of the players in the year-end Top 10 are aged 27 or under, with an average age of just older than 25. The 22-year-old Jannik Sinner, at a career-high No. 4, joins Alcaraz and Rune to make a trio of Top 10 players aged 22 and under.

It is the first time three 22-and-under players have finished in the year-end Top 10 since 2009, when 22-year-old Djokovic (No. 3), 22-year-old Andy Murray (No. 4) and 21-year-old Juan Martin del Potro (No. 5) did it.

2023 YEAR-END PEPPERSTONE ATP RANKINGS TOP 10

1) Novak Djokovic – Earns record-extending eighth ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone and leads ATP Tour with seven titles.

2) Carlos Alcaraz – Finishes in the Top 2 for the second consecutive year, wins second major title at Wimbledon.

3) Daniil Medvedev – Finishes in year-end Top 3 for the second time in three years.

4) Jannik Sinner – Climbs to career-high No. 4, claimed maiden ATP Masters 1000 trophy in Toronto.

5) Andrey Rublev – Finishes in Top 5 after winning first ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo.

6) Stefanos Tsitsipas – Earns fifth straight year-end Top 10 finish.

7) Alexander Zverev – Returns to the Top 10 after suffering a devastating ankle injury in June 2022.

8) Holger Rune – After reaching career-high No. 4, qualified for Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.

9) Hubert Hurkacz – Finishes in year-end Top 10 for third straight year after leading the Tour in aces (1,031).

10) Taylor Fritz – No. 1 American won both finals played, secures second Top 10 finish.

2023 Year-End Pepperstone ATP Rankings Quick Facts

• 504 spots jumped by Alex Michelsen – most in year-end Top 100 (No. 601 in 2022 to No. 97 in 2023).
• 213 spots jumped by Arthur Fils – most in year-end Top 50 (No. 249 in 2022 to No. 36 in 2023).
• 38-year-old Stan Wawrinka is oldest player in year-end Top 100 at No. 50. The Swiss entered the 2023 season at No. 148.
• Three teens finished inside the year-end Top 100, all of whom competed in the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM: 19-year-olds Fils (No. 36), Luca Van Assche (No. 71) and Alex Michelsen (No. 97).
• With Fils and Van Assche, it is the first time two French teens have ended a year in the Top 100 since Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils, both then 19, in 2005.
• Six players climbed at least 100 places to finish in the year-end Top 50: Fils (+213), Max Purcell (+178), Sebastian Ofner (+152), Nicolas Jarry (+134), Jan-Lennard Struff (+126) and Alexander Shevchenko (+106).
• 21 players 30-and-older finished in the Top 100 (25 in 2022, 31 in 2021, 40 in 2020).
• 16 players 25-and-under in Top 30 for the second consecutive year. It is the highest mark since 17 in 2008.
• Nine players in year-end Top 10 have competed in or qualified for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM in their careers.
• 10 players from the United States in year-end Top 100 – the most of any country. Two of the players, Christopher Eubanks and Michelsen, cracked the Top 100 in 2023.

The 2024 ATP Tour season begins on 29 December 2023 with the 18-country United Cup, which will take place across Australia in Perth and Sydney.

View Full 2023 Year-End Pepperstone ATP Rankings

A rivalry that was born across late-round Wimbledon meetings in 2022 and 2023 hit new heights with three showdowns in quick succession at the end of this season.

Novak Djokovic lost a LexusATP Head2Head meeting with Jannik Sinner for the first time in the round-robin stage of the Nitto ATP Finals, but that was only the beginning of their end-of-season battles. Read on to relive the pair’s four memorable matches this season — or five, if you include their decisive Davis Cup doubles rubber in Malaga.

Wimbledon SFs, Djokovic d. Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4)
One year after Djokovic beat Sinner in the 2022 Wimbledon quarter-finals, the pair met one round later at the All England Club. The Serbian produced a great escape to beat Sinner in 2022, fighting back from two sets down, but he was in command from the beginning on this occasion.

The match was not without its fair share of drama, as Djokovic saved all six break points against him, including two that doubled as set points for Sinner in the third set.

“In the semi-finals, it was always going to be a very tense, very close match,” Djokovic said after what was his 34th consecutive Wimbledon win. “Three very close sets. I think the scoreline maybe doesn’t give the reality of what was happening on the court. It was super close.”

Nitto ATP Finals RR, Sinner d. Djokovic 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-6(2)
Sinner scored his first win against Djokovic in the pair’s fourth Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting, thrilling the Italian fans in Turin with a dramatic triumph.

The home favourite led for much of the match, including at 4-2 in the final set, but a decisive tie-break was required to separate the fierce competitors. Sinner, who won nine straight points to claim the opening set, once again found his best tennis down the stretch of the third set to claim a hard-earned victory.

“I think I was really brave and intelligent in important moments, especially the third set,” said Sinner, who produced some of his biggest ground strokes of the match under pressure in the final-set tie-break.

“It means a lot to me. When you win against the World No. 1, who has won 24 Grand Slams, it’s obviously in the top [of my career results]… I felt like it was a really tactical match and I managed to win, so I’m very happy.”

Nitto ATP Finals Final, Djokovic d. Sinner 6-3, 6-3
Five days later, Djokovic had his chance for revenge in Turin. He took it with aplomb, playing a near-flawless match to win his record-breaking seventh Nitto ATP Finals crown.

The Serbian served his way to an early advantage, losing just two points in his first seven service games behind pinpoint deliveries. The World No. 1 was on the front foot in almost every rally, making a concerted effort to attack and play the match on his terms.

But the tension arrived in the second set when Sinner, urged on by the Turin crowd, created two break points to level the set. Djokovic once again leaned on strong serving to escape, and he then held off one final charge from the Italian to secure a hugely satisfying title.

“To crown it with a win against a hometown hero in Jannik, who has played amazing tennis this week, is phenomenal,” Djokovic said after breaking a tie with Roger Federer for most trophies at the season finale. “I think I played different tactically than I did in the group stage against Jannik, and just overall it was a phenomenal week.”

Davis Cup SFs, Sinner d. Djokovic 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
Incredibly, there was still time for one final twist in the 2023 rivalry between these top talents. When Italy and Serbia both advanced to set a Davis Cup semi-final showdown, the tennis world readied for another high-stakes showdown between the No. 1 players from both countries.

While the tennis in this encounter may not have hit the heights of Turin, the drama was second to none. With Serbia holding a 1-0 lead in the tie, Djokovic was on the brink of sending his team to the final when he brought up three match points at 4-5, 0/40 in the final set.

But Sinner served his way out of trouble and — buoyed by his new lease on life in the competition —  won the final three games of the match to level the tie at 1-1.

“It was a roller coaster,” Sinner said. “I was starting off really well. Second set he played much better than me. Third set I tried to serve really well, and also on match points down I served well.”

The rivals then returned to the court for a decisive doubles rubber, Sinner teaming with Lorenzo Sonego and Djokovic pairing with Miomir Kecmanovic. In a pressure-packed match that included 10 combined break points in the second set, the Italians booked their final place with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. They would go on to win their first Davis Cup title since 1976 by beating Australia, with Sinner scoring the clinching point by beating Alex de Minaur in the championship round.

Beaming from ear to ear, Hamad Medjedovic was proud of his achievements on Saturday in Jeddah, where he reflected on winning the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM title. The 20-year-old Serbian defeated Arthur Fils in the title match.

I feel amazing,” Medjedovic said in his post-match press conference. “It was unreal and still is. It was tough to process everything. It was a really tough match. I was on the edge of going crazy after the first set as I had two set points but I managed to stay relaxed and focused and it is an unreal feeling.”

Medjedovic is the sixth champion in the tournament’s history, a list that includes Top 10 stars Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas. The 20-year-old is delighted to join such elite company and hopes it will help him push on further in 2024 as he aims to break the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time.

“It means a lot. To know that all the great champions [won here], it gives you a lot of confidence and a boost for next season,” Medjedovic said. “I will be coming into next year with a lot of confidence.

“I have a big game and big shots but I still have a lot of things to work on with my coach. Physically I need to get much better and I will use preseason for this and I need to improve my focus on the court more.”

Medjedovic is pleased to have delivered more success for Serbia.

“It is a great thing. He won the Finals and I won Next Gen,” Medjedovic said. “It is a great thing for our country. I am really proud to get this title for my country. I have not opened my phone yet, but I am sure he has sent a message to congratulate me.”

The Next Gen ATP Finals was the first ever ATP Tour sanctioned event to be held in Saudi Arabia. Medjedovic enjoyed playing in front of the energetic crowds in the King Abdullah Sports City.

“I was really lucky to have them on my side since the first match,” Medjedovic said when asked about the Saudi fans. “They were cheering for me and I was feeling the love. I am really happy and grateful I had them on my side.”

The 19-year-old, who finished runner-up to Hamad Medjedovic Saturday at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM in Jeddah, will remain in the Middle East for a practice week with Rafael Nadal at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Kuwait.

“I was very happy, very surprised when he asked me to practise with him,” Fils said in his post-match press conference. “It’s such a big thing for me to play with one of the greatest players of all time. I will try my best for him but I have a big season coming so I will also try my best for myself. I will try to enjoy it as well.”

Despite the disappointment of losing in five sets to Medjedovic after saving two match points in the fourth set, Fils can be justifiably happy with his banner year in 2023. He shaved more than 200 places off his Pepperstone ATP Ranking during the year to finish inside the Top 40.

“It was a nice year for sure. I started at 250 but finished at 36, so that’s pretty good. It still could have been better. I lost some close matches, like I did today, but it’s just experience and I will try to do better next year.”

Fils, who had not won a tour-level match before this year, finishes 2023 with a 23-18 match record, including his 4-1 mark in Jeddah. He won his first title in Lyon and also reached the Antwerp final.

Although Fils said he has been inspired by the rapid rise of Carlos Alcaraz, who became World No. 1 last year at 19, he is not putting pressure on himself to emulate the Spaniard, at least in the short term.

“My goal is not to be No. 1 in the world in three months, because it’s not possible,” Fils said. “I have to work, to work, to work. I have to work in the gym, work on the court, try my best in every match I play and then maybe one day I will be a champion. I hope it comes fast, but not as fast as Carlos, because what he did was crazy.”

When Ammar Alhogbani stepped on court to take on Zhang Zhizhen at the Asian Games in September, it was more than just an opportunity for the Saudi Arabian to prove himself against a Top 100 player.

Despite falling to a 7-5, 6-2 defeat in Hangzhou, the 25-year-old Alhogbani’s performance against Chinese star Zhang made him realise he was ready to make a full-time return to professional tennis after time away working as National Teams Development Officer for the Saudi Tennis Federation.

“I played Zhang, and I almost took the first set,” the No. 1 Saudi player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings told ATPTour.com on Saturday in Jeddah. “I was like, ‘If I’m almost taking the first set against a guy like this, there is a good possibility I can do well with [full-time] training. I almost took the first set when I’m training three or four times a week and with no coach’.”

Born in Saudi Arabia, Alhogbani and his family moved to the United States when he was three years old. After growing up in Ohio and then Virginia, he played college tennis at the University of Virginia, where he was part of a NCAA Championship-winning team in his first year. Due to a variety of reasons, however, Alhogbani’s playing career stalled after he graduated and returned to Saudi Arabia in 2021.

“After college I hurt my wrist, at the beginning of when I wanted to make a push [up the rankings],” said Alhogbani. “Then I got the role at the federation, so that slowed it down. This year, [I played] at the Asian Games and some other ITF events, when I had limited training.

“My brother (fellow Saudi Davis Cup player Saud Alhogbani) is now playing U.S. college tennis at Wake Forest, so I don’t really have anyone to train with. So I go to Futures events and train for the first week. I’ve had some good results, so I want to give it a full shot in the coming years, just to see how far I can take it on the court.”

Finding hitting partners has been less of a problem for Alhogbani this week at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM, where the Saudi has practised with several of the competitors at the season-ending 21-and-under event in Jeddah. On Saturday, he hit with top seed Arthur Fils to help warm up the Frenchman ahead of the championship match against Hamad Medjedovic.

“I’ve hit with the majority of the guys [this week],” said Alhogbani. “I hit with Arthur the most. It’s a good time. Obviously, they have different gamestyles. Some guys like to be on top the baseline and bully me around, but I got to play a couple of sets against some of the guys, so that was really cool.”

Dominic Stricker/Ammar Alhogbani/Arthur Fils” />

_{^{Alhogbani (centre) tossed the coin for the group-stage match between Dominic Stricker and Arthur Fils. Photo: Peter Staples/ATP Tour}}

As a big advocate of Saudi tennis, Alhogbani is delighted to have been part of the first ATP-sanctioned event in his homeland. He sees it as a milestone moment for tennis in a country making big strides across a variety of sports.

“This is a huge step. Obviously, we have had [exhibitions] in the past, but this is the first ATP-sanctioned event, so this is something that’s really big for us,” said Alhogbani. “The sports industry is booming, and football has been king here for so long. Now tennis is a priority sport, so having tennis at the forefront and having this event just goes hand in hand.

“It’s really cool. The kids get to see all the players, and seeing it is believing it. I think it’s going to inspire a lot of the kids to come and play.”

Whatever the future of Saudi tennis, Alhogbani is not likely to be the only member of his family playing a big role. He competes alongside his 20-year-old brother Saud in the nation’s Davis Cup team, and he also made history alongside his 19-year-old sister Yara Alhogbani at this year’s Asian Games.

“This time around was really cool, because I went with my sister,” said Alhogbani, who first played the Asian Games as a 15-year-old in 2014. “We played mixed doubles, and that was the first ever mixed doubles team from Saudi Arabia.”

Ammar Alhogbani” />

_{^{Yara Alhogbani and Ammar Alhogbani at September’s Asian Games in Hangzhou. Photo courtesy of Ammar Alhogbani.}}

With so many recent groundbreaking moments for Saudi tennis, Alhogbani hopes his family’s on-court achievements and hosting the Next Gen ATP Finals can be a starting point for continued development.

“Obviously tennis culture here isn’t so big, and it’s something that is a dream, to make it bigger,” he said. “I would love to see more people in general picking up racquets and see more facilities… For me as a player, I want to see Saudi tennis at the highest level. I think we’re all looking for a player to break through, and just more of these events would help with that.”

Hamad Medjedovic capped his breakthrough season by lifting the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM trophy on Sunday in Jeddah, where he recovered from squandering two match points in the fourth set against Arthur Fils to win the first five-set final in tournament history.

The 20-year-old played aggressively in front of a packed crowd in King Abdullah Sports City, where he received loud support from energetic fans. The Serbian took large cuts at the ball, won 88 per cent (61/69) of points on his first delivery and converted his third match point to fire past the 19-year-old Frenchman 3-4(6), 4-1, 4-2, 3-4(9), 4-1 after two hours and 11 minutes.

It also capped a great end of the season for Serbia after Novak Djokovic clinched a record seventh Nitto ATP Finals crown in Turin earlier this month. The World No. 1 has been sending Medjedovic messages of support this week.

“Two of us from Serbia. He won the big Masters, the real one, and I won the Next Gen. Obviously it’s a huge thing and I’m happy to follow in his footsteps in some way,” Medjedovic said.

Medjedovic did not lose a match en route to becoming the first Serbian to triumph at the tournament, taking home a tournament-record $514,000 in prize money.

At No. 110 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, the 20-year-old is the lowest-ranked champion in tournament history, while he is the sixth Next Gen ATP Finals titlist, joining Top 10 stars Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“I can’t believe I have won this title, but it’s going to give me a lot of confidence for 2024,”Medjedovic said. “Arthur is an amazing player; he’s Top 40 for a reason, so I’m really happy.”

“It was tough after the first set. I changed my clothes and recovered and started to play good again. I didn’t play good when I had match points in the fourth set. I wasn’t relaxed, I was very stiff. Thank God I recovered and I was just trying to stay relaxed as much as I could and I managed to do it in the end.”

Both players come out firing on serve in their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. They dropped just one point each on their first deliveries, with Fils hitting six aces and Medjedovic seven. With little to separate them, the Frenchman came to life deep in the tie-break, saving two set points before he clinched the opener on his first set point.

After taking a toilet break, Medjedovic found his best level at the start of the second set. He flew through his service games, making use of the shortened shot-clock rule between aces to gain momentum and level. The Serbian then broke in the first game of the third set and continued his impressive level on serve in the third set, winning all 10 points behind his first delivery.

The fourth set then went to a tie-break and Medjedovic moved to match point at 6/4. Fils saved both on second serves, before clinching the set to force a deciding set. The Serbian, who struck 34 winners, including 19 aces, would not be denied though. He raced through the decider, collapsing to the floor after converting on his third match point.

Medjedovic, who is coached by former World No. 12 Viktor Troicki, won three ATP Challenger Tour trophies in 2023, while he reached tour-level semi-finals in Gstaad and Astana.

Fils, who won his maiden tour-level title in Lyon in May, started the season at No. 251 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings but arrived in Jeddah at a career-high No. 36. He is the first French teenager to finish the season inside the Top 50 since then-19-year-olds Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils in 2005.

Did You Know?
Medjedovic hit 69 aces during the event. No player in tournament history has hit more aces at the event than the Serbian.

The ATP and Tennis Data Innovations (TDI) will deliver unprecedented insights at the 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM. Using state-of-the-art tracking metrics, the insights will assess the physical capacity required to compete at the highest professional level of our sport.

Read more to learn about Saturday’s final in Jeddah.

Arthur Fils vs. Hamad Medjedovic

The road to the final has been a physical journey at times for Arthur Fils and Hamad Medjedovic. Both players have been pushed by their opponents physically and mentally. So, as the players and their teams are looking to put together the final touches on their game plan for Saturday’s match, here are a few key insights that have come through when looking at the tactical and physical data.

The on-court performance from both of these players during the course of the entire week has been extremely high. They have both done an amazing job of converting on the offense they have created with their easy power, staying in attack over 28% of all points played. Fils has been able to steal 34% of the points using a combination of his speed and power, whereas Medjedovic has been able to steal 33% of his points using mostly great anticipation and strength. On average, the players are hitting their forehands over 80 MPH and their backhands over 70 MPH. Fils will tend to look for his forehand a little more, especially from the AD court, where Medjedovic is more balanced with his attack off the ground, settling for a few more backhands from the middle. They are both very comfortable spreading the court with their forehands to both sides of the court, and they love to finish with their forehands down the line (both of their #1 hot play).

Coming into this match Fils and Medjedovic have put in a similar volume of work, running similar distances and accumulating comparable workloads. Where their physicality profiles begin to diverge is around the high-intensity movements (high-speed distance & explosive movements). Fils has performed 33% more high-speed distance and 25% more explosive movements. This is where the physical profile of athletes can dictate the tactical game planning. The number one cold play of Medjedovic is his defending with the backhand through the middle from the backhand corner. Fils is clearly more explosive with his movements in and out of the corners, allowing him to defend a little more efficiently by using his speed.

Physical Keys to the Match

Coming out of the gates fast and matching the physical intensity of Medjedovic from the start of the match will only favour Fils. Fils has been able to significantly increase his overall work rate over the course of each match. His movement has only improved as the matches have progressed, where Medjedovic has seen a decline in his overall work rate in each of his three round-robin matches. He had come out fast and physical in each match but then seen a steep decline in his work rate as the matches progressed. Can Fils match the early intensity of Medjedovic, using his high-speed distance and explosive movements to counter the pace of Medjedovic, making the Serbian hit one or two more balls each point. Or can Medjedovic take the racquet out of Fils’ hands by keeping the rallies short and making this match more about volume (distance and work load) and less about intensity (high-speed distance and explosive movements). Volume favours Medjedovic and Intensity favours Fils.