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All you have to know about the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan

The best 8 young tennis players in the world will challenge in Italy from 5 to 9 November

All you have to know about the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan The best 8 young tennis players in the world will challenge in Italy from 5 to 9 November

We already talked about it in this article a few months ago, for Italian male tennis it's an incredibly positive moment: Andrea Gaudenzi has just become the new ATP chairman, Matteo Berrettini is the new n. 8 in the world rankings and will participate in the London ATP Finals 41 years after the last time for an Italian, while Milan for the third year in a row will host the Next Gen ATP Finals, the mini tournament among the best young tennis players in the world according to the Race To Milan, that will compete on the indoor hard court of the Lombard city.

Who will play?

This edition of the Next Gen ATP Finals is reserved for tennis players born from 1998 onwards, and also this time there were a few important forfaits: if the winner of last year Stefanos Tsitsipas will not be able to participate because he's involved in the ATP Finals, the most important absences are those of the two Canadians Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger Aliassime, forced to resign because of physical problems. The seeded number 1 will therefore be the Australian Alex De Minaur, just 20 years old and already number 18 of the world, who had also participated last year: behind 'Demon' there will be, in order of the ATP ranking, the American Frances Tiafoe (47), the French Ugo Humbert (55), the Norwegian Casper Ruud (56), the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (60), the Swedish Mikael Ymer (73), the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (87) and the Italian Jannik Sinner (95). Sinner is undoubtedly the most awaited, despite being the one with the worst position in the rankings: the great hope of Italian tennis, which has climbed almost 700 positions during 2019, is also the youngest of all, having been born in 2001. To give space to Sinner the Italian tennis federation has decided to assign him a special wild card, rendering useless the mini qualifying tournament for Italian tennis players, whose victory (by Giulio Zeppieri) has served to guarantee only an alternate spot. And to confirm the hype for the presence of the player for South Tirol, yesterday Sinner also revealed on Instagram the shoes that Nike has designed specifically for the tournament.

How does the tournament take place?

Unlike the 2017 and 2018 editions, the tournament will no longer take place at Rho Fiera but at PalaLido in Milan (now Allianz Cloud), the historic Milanese venue of Piazza Stuparich (San Siro area) which was reopened last June after years of renovations. Last Saturday, at the Lavazza flagship store in Piazza San Fedele, the draw ceremony for the two groups of four players each took place: the best two of each one will reach the semifinals (scheduled for Friday), while the two finals will be played on Saturday 9. The winner will win $ 250,000, which would become 429,000 if him will finish unbeaten: it already happened with Hyeon Chung in 2017 and Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2018.

The rules

Also this year the tournament will be based on unusual rules, introduced in the past as experimental tests, starting from the field that does not have the traditional side corridors: the games will be played at the best of the five sets, each one of just 4 games (instead of 6), with the tiebreak set after the 3-3. And then again the no-ad, then the disappearance of the 'advantage' after the 40-40, the player coaching admitted in certain moments of the match, the absence of the ball boys and the shot clock to significantly reduce the waste of time and speed up the match.

How to buy tickets

Although the daily programs are not yet defined (at the moment only the order of play on Tuesday 5 is unveiled), it's possible to buy daily tickets, but also passes and special carnet. Round-robin sessions include two afternoon matches (starting at 2:00 pm) and two evening matches (after 7:00 pm). The tickets' prices start at 22 euros, while for the final there is no less than 66 euros, you can find them on Ticketone.it or at the box office, if available yet.