Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has been officially announced as the host city of the Next Gen ATP Finals, from 2023-2027. The tournament will take place over five days at the King Abdullah Sports City on indoor hard court from 28 November-2 December 2023, with a record US $2 million prize money on offer, following five successful editions of the tournament in Milan, Italy.

The ATP’s announcement follows a competitive bid process launched in March 2023, with the support of Deloitte’s Sport Business Group. The process evaluated host cities from multiple regions against criteria including venue, international connectivity, and potential to grow professional tennis in a new market.

In addition to delivering record prize money for players, Jeddah’s successful bid, led by the Saudi Tennis Federation (STF), makes history as the first official professional tennis event to take place in Saudi Arabia. It builds on a more than 30-year presence in the Middle East for the ATP Tour.

ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said: “The ATP Tour is truly global and exploring new markets is central to growing the game. Bringing the Next Gen ATP Finals to Jeddah is our chance to inspire new fans, in a region with a vast young population, and unite audiences around tennis. Our congratulations go to Jeddah and the Saudi Tennis Federation. We look forward to building on the event’s incredible success together.”

Tennis is at a major inflection point in Saudi Arabia. Recreational clinics are at full capacity across the country, reflecting STF’s commitment to raising awareness and fostering interest among Saudi’s young, sport-enthusiastic population. Ambitious participation targets, an increase in the number of international tennis competitions, and establishing tennis as the marquee gender-equal sport in Saudi Arabia, have all been set as objectives in line with Vision 2030, which aspires to turn the Kingdom into a major sports, entertainment and tourism hub.

Arij Mutabagani, President of the Saudi Tennis Federation, said: “We are extremely proud that ATP has selected Jeddah to host such an important tennis event. The Next Gen ATP Finals embodies the philosophy of our Federation, which is to inspire young talent to reach the sport’s highest levels. We’re excited to collaborate to promote the ATP Tour’s most promising rising stars, and showcase new sporting innovations, in our special city of Jeddah.”

The Next Gen ATP Finals, first launched in 2017, has established itself as one of the highlights of the tennis season, showcasing the world’s best 21-and-under players in a fast-paced year-end format. Notably, nine of the current Top 10 players in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings having competed at the event, highlighting its role in showcasing the future stars of the sport. Past champions like Stefanos Tsitsipas, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have used the event as a stepping-stone to further success in their careers.

The event also serves as a platform to test rule changes, new technologies and innovations in the sport, many of which have gone on to be incorporated on the ATP Tour.

Some of the world’s brightest stars treated US Open fans to a fun-filled night Wednesday, when the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Frances Tiafoe and Matteo Berrettini banded together for ‘Stars of the Open’, an exhibition in support of Ukrainian humanitarian relief.

In front of more than 14,000 people at Louis Armstrong Stadium, the fundraiser brought out celebrities beyond tennis, too. NBA star Jimmy Butler and two-time Latin Grammy winner Sebastian Yatra were also part of the event that raised $320,000 towards the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund. Butler served as a ball crew member for part of the night and even played a few points with World No. 1 Alcaraz following the Spaniard’s exhibition tie-break with Tiafoe.

If a better point of tennis has ever been played, we’ve never seen it 🤣 pic.twitter.com/udc6iGZkxx

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 23, 2023

Players were mic’d up throughout the festivities, providing several moments of laughter for those watching. A memorable moment was when Gael Monfils partnered his wife Elina Svitolina in mixed doubles against Americans Christopher Eubanks and Jennifer Brady to close the night. Berrettini teamed with 1990 US Open champion Gabriela Sabatini to face John McEnroe and Jessica Pegula.

The US Open main draw will be made Thursday at 12 p.m. local time and main draw action begins Monday, 28 August. 

THAT’S @JImmyButler‘s MUSIC!

AND AS A BALL CREW MEMBER! pic.twitter.com/SQKJmcNalg

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 23, 2023

John McEnroe goes after Matteo Berrettini and shows he’s still got it! pic.twitter.com/WgbfoZY2iZ

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 24, 2023

Top seed Borna Coric earned a hard-fought victory Wednesday at the Winston-Salem Open to reach his sixth tour-level quarter-final of the season.

The 26-year-old Croatian survived wild card Michael Mmoh 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3 in two hours, 47 minutes. Coric fired 11 aces and struck the ball with conviction to reach the last eight, where he will next face Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo. World No. 29 Coric has played his best tennis under pressure this week, having saved 16 of 17 break points he’s faced across two matches.

“I started to play better in the second set. He was serving really, really big and I didn’t have a chance to break him [in the second set],” Coric said. “Overall I thought it was a good match from my side and also from his side. I’m very happy with my level of tennis and I hopefully I can keep on getting better.”

Aiming for his fourth tour-level title and first since last year’s surprise run at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati, Coric is making his third appearance in Winston-Salem, where he has twice reached the last eight (2015, 2017). His quarter-final contest against Cerundolo, who downed lucky loser Omni Kumar 7-5, 6-3 in third round, will mark his first encounter with the Argentine.

“I need to check him out a bit. I did watch him play a couple of times, but I’ve never watched him play where I was focussed on his game,” Coric said. “I need to check him out on YouTube and Tennis TV to see how he plays and then decide all of my game plans.”

Fifth seed Jiri Lehecka also needed three sets to advance Wednesday, defeating German Dominik Koepfer 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Maxime Cressy wasted no time Wednesday to reach the second round of US Open qualifying, needing 69 minutes to dispatch Czech Vit Kopriva 6-3, 6-3.

The 26-year-old American dropped just six points behind his hefty serve to move one step closer to his fourth main-draw appearance in Flushing Meadows, where he will next face Belgian Joris De Loore, who defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 6-4.

#NextGenATP stars Jakub Mensik, Arthur Cazaux and Leandro Riedi also earned victories Wednesday. The 17-year-old Mensik overcame a slow start and struck 10 aces to oust former World No. 7 Fabio Fognini 1-6, 6-1, 6-1. 17th seed Cazaux cruised past Zizou Bergs 6-3, 6-3 and the Swiss Riedi survived 13th seed Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 2-6, 7-5.

Canadian Vasek Pospisil played the longest men’s qualifying match of the day, needing three hours, 29 minutes to move past 26th seed Pedro Martinez 7-6(7), 6-7(3), 6-4.

John Millman, who was a US Open quarter-finalist in 2018, defeated Alejandro Tabilo 6-4, 7-5. Dennis Novak upset fifth seed David Goffin 7-6(5), 6-3. In an all-American battle, Tennys Sandgren downed Denis Kudla 7-6(6), 6-4.

John Isner on Wednesday evening announced on social media that the US Open will be his final tournament. The American’s 17th consecutive appearance in his home major will be his last.

“There comes a time in every athlete’s career that they have to decide to hang it up. For me, that time is now,” Isner posted on Instagram. “I didn’t come [to] this decision lightly, but I feel it is the right way to go. When I left the University of Georgia in 2007, there was no way I could have imagined playing 17 years on the ATP Tour.

“Of course, there are countless matches I wish I could have back, but I am proud of what I was able to accomplish. The journey was nothing short of incredible.”

 

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The 38-year-old at Flushing Meadows will draw to a close his illustrious career, during which he has won 16 ATP Tour titles, won 488 tour-level matches and competed in the Nitto ATP Finals (in 2018).

Isner will leave behind a legacy as one of the greatest servers in the history of the sport. According to Infosys ATP Stats, he holds the record for most career aces with 14,411. No other player has hit the 14,000-ace mark and only five have reached 10,000 aces.

The American finished inside the Top 20 of the year-end Pepperstone ATP Rankings for 10 consecutive years from 2010-19 and was the year-end No. 1 American eight times (2012-16 and 2018-20). He reached a career-high World No. 8 in July 2018 after making his first major semi-final at Wimbledon.

Isner became the oldest first-time ATP Masters 1000 singles champion as a 32-year-old when he emerged victorious in Miami in 2018. He also has won five Masters 1000 doubles titles. The 38-year-old has also earned at least one victory against Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka.

American Sebastian Korda advanced to his fourth tour-level quarter-final of the season on Wednesday at the Winston-Salem Open, where he moved past Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 7-6(5), 6-3.

The 23-year-old earned an opening-round win against Benjamin Bonzi and backed that up with a hard-fought display against Fucsovics. Korda rallied from 3-5 in the first set before he struck 13 winners in the second set to advance after one hour and 53 minutes at the ATP 250.

“It was a very close first set,” Korda said. “I think as a player you take a lot of confidence in that. You have the upper hand and [then] it was time to push a little harder and be more aggressive and take the chances when they come.

“I think on the big [points] I played pretty solid and did not make many mistakes. As the match progressed, the longer the rallies got and the more I felt comfortable.”

Korda will continue the quest for his first tour-level trophy of the season against countryman Brandon Nakashima or 12th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

Earlier this year, Korda advanced to the final in Auckland, where he held championship point against Novak Djokovic before falling. The third seed, who reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, is up three spots to No. 30 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

The ATP Challenger Tour makes its long-awaited return to China this week after a near four-year absence on the calendar.

China is set to host six Challenger events in the next eight weeks, with the Hengqin International Tennis Challenger in Zhuhai kicking off the swing. Zhuhai tournament director Mily Li says it’s rewarding to see world-class players back in action in the Asian country.

“The return means a lot to us. The local fans are super thirsty about watching high-level tennis matches on site, and the local sponsors finally have the opportunity to support some international tennis event,” said Li. “It is also a challenge for the local tennis event operation team, since they haven’t organised this level international event for three years as well.”

The Zhuhai Challenger marks the first tournament at that level in China since October 2019 (Shenzhen). Next month, the ATP Tour will also return to China, starting a four-week swing with the Chengdu Open and ending with the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

Although China may have been lacking pro tournaments the past few years, several of their own have been rapidly rising, such as Zhang Zhizhen, who became the first Chinese male to crack the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings last October. The 26-year-old has since climbed as high as World No. 52.

Wu Yibing, 23, made history by becoming the first tour-level titlist from China in February, when he saved four championship points to triumph at the Dallas Open.

#NextGenATP stars Shang Juncheng and Yunchaokete Bu are also finding early success. The 18-year-old Shang became the first man from the Asian nation to win an Australian Open match in the Open Era earlier this year, while the 21-year-old Yunchaokete became the third Chinese player to win an ATP Challenger Tour title aged 21 and under when he captured the Seoul Challenger in April.

The recent surge of Chinese tennis in the men’s game will only inspire more children in their home country to pick up a racquet, adding to the trend Li has seen this past decade in China: more kids interested in tennis.

“The overall tournament numbers are getting larger and larger, and spreading to more cities,” Li said. “More tennis courts are built and you can see more young kids choose tennis as their hobby.

“Take Zhuhai as an example. The first year we did the international event in 2015, there were very few people willing to buy the tickets to watch tennis. This year for our ATP 250 next month, the ticket sales are going well, with the majority of the seats sold out already. I guess this is the best proof of the growing popularity of tennis in China.”

ATP Challenger Tour China Swing: