ATP Next Gen Finals: Joao Fonseca and Learner Tien to face off in Saudi Arabia

The ATP Next Gen Finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia will conclude with Joao Fonseca taking on Learner Tien for the title Sunday December 22.

A reminder of the draw: favorite and world No. 20 Arthur Fils of France faced the Czech, Jakub Mensik; American Learner Tien and Brazilian starlet Joao Fonseca in the group stages, with American and No. 2 qualifier Alex Michelsen drawn against China’s Shang Juncheng; another Frenchman in Luca Van Assche and a third American in the draw, Nishesh Basavareddy.

Fils and Shang have both won ATP Tour titles. Fils won the ATP 500s in Tokyo and Hamburg, Germany in 2024, while Shang won his first-and-only title to date in Chengdu, China, at a 250-level event.

Tien put together a 28-match winning streak on the Challenger circuit between May and July, which earned him a wildcard into the 2024 U.S. Open. Basavareddy just earned a wildcard into the 2025 Australian Open, while Michelsen reached two ATP tournament finals in 2024 and Fonseca reached the quarterfinals of the 500-level Rio de Janeiro Open in February after receiving a wildcard into the event.

With one round of the group stages remaining, Fils and Tien faced off for the a place in the semifinals in the blue group; Van Assche and Basavareddy did the same in the red group. Fonseca and Michelsen were already through; Mensik and Shang were all but out.

In the end, Tien and Michelsen — compatriots and friends — set up the first semifinal after Tien took out Fils in a display of precise spot-serving. Then Fonseca beat Mensik in the best match of the week so far, winning in five sets, all of which went to a tiebreak.

In the semifinals, Tien bested Michelsen in five sets, while Fonseca annihilated Van Assche.

ATP Next Gen Finals: Blue Group

Player	Age	World ranking	‘Race to Jeddah’ ranking
Arthur Fils	20	20	1
Jakub Mensik	19	48	3
Learner Tien	19	122	5
Joao Fonseca	18	145	8

ATP Next Gen Finals: Red Group

Player	Age	World ranking	‘Race to Jeddah’ ranking
Alex Michelsen	20	41	2
Shang Juncheng	19	50	4
Luca Van Assche	20	128	6
Nishesh Basavareddy	19	138	7

ATP Next Gen Finals schedule and results

December 18	Match	Result
	Shang Juncheng vs. Luca Van Assche	3-4(3), 4-2, 1-4, 3-4(5)
	Alex Michelsen vs. Nishesh Basavareddy	2-4, 4-3(5), 4-3(4), 4-2
	Jakub Mensik vs. Learner Tien	3-4(6), 3-4(3), 4-2, 4-2, 3-4(8)
	Arthur Fils vs. Joao Fonseca	4-3(9), 2-4, 1-4, 4-1, 1-4
December 19
	Shang Juncheng vs. Nishesh Basavareddy	4-3(4), 2-4, 2-4, 1-4
	Alex Michelsen vs. Luca Van Assche	1-4, 4-2, 4-3(6). 4-3(5)
	Arthur Fils vs. Jakub Mensik	4-2, 4-3(4), 4-2
	Learner Tien vs. Joao Fonseca	0-4, 0-4, 4-1, 2-4
December 20
	Alex Michelsen vs. Shang Juncheng	4-1, 1-1 (ret.)
	Luca Van Assche vs. Nishesh Basavareddy	3-4(2), 4-3(7), 4-2, 4-2
	Arthur Fils vs. Learner Tien	2-4, 2-4, 4-3(4), 3-4(5)
	Jakub Mensik vs. Joao Fonseca	4-3(4), 3-4(8), 3-4(5), 4-3(4), 3-4(5)
December 21
	Learner Tien vs. Alex Michelsen	2-4, 4-2, 1-4, 4-0, 4-1
	Joao Fonseca vs. Luca Van Assche	4-2, 4-2, 4-1
December 22
	Learner Tien vs. Joao Fonseca

How does the ATP Next Gen Finals draw work?

The eight players who qualified were split into four pairs for the draw. The first pair is is No. 1 and No. 2, the second is No. 3 and No. 4, and so on.

These seedings follow the players’ rankings in the ‘ATP Race to Jeddah,’ the table which only counts ranking points earned in 2024.

No. 1 (Arthur Fils) and No. 2 (Alex Michelsen) were drawn into the Blue Group and the Red Group respectively. The remaining three pairs were then allocated a spot at random, pair-by-pair.

What is the format for the ATP Next Gen Finals?

The ATP Next Gen Finals begins Wednesday December 18, with four matches per day in the group stages: two in the Jeddah afternoon from 11 a.m. GMT / 6 a.m. ET and two in the Jeddah evening from 4 p.m. GMT / 11 a.m. ET.

The final is Sunday December 22 and the two semifinals will be played Saturday December 21.

Each player plays three round-robin matches, before the top two in each group contest the semifinals with 1st in the Blue Group playing 2nd in the Red Group and visa versa.

Each match is best of five sets, but the first player to win four games wins the set, rather than the usual six, and a tiebreak is played at 3-3 instead of 6-6. The tiebreaks are first to seven points with a two-point winning margin — 7-4, 7-5, 8-6, 9-7, etc.

The event also uses ‘No-Ad’ scoring. At 40-40, the receiver chooses to return from the deuce court or the ad court and the two players play a deciding point. There are also no lets, a feature of American college tennis in which a serve that hits the net but lands in the correct service box counts as a live ball.

The shot clock between points, which has been a contentious issue on the ATP Tour in 2024, is also different to the main tour. If a point is fewer than three shots, the usual 25-second time between points is reduced to 15 seconds, with eight seconds allowed between the first and second serve at all times.

Who won last year’s tournament?

Hamad Medjedovic defeated Fils, 3–4(6–8), 4–1, 4–2, 3–4(9–11), 4–1 to win the 2023 event, for which players 21-and-under were eligible. 2024 is the first event for which only players 20-and-under are eligible, so Medjedovic cannot defend his title.

How much prize money is there?

Each of the eight players gets $150,000 (£118,800) just for participating. A round-robin match win is worth $36,660 (£29,000); a semifinal win earns $113,500 (£89,900) and victory in the final is worth $153,000 (£121,200). If the eventual champion goes undefeated, they will take home $526,480 (£417,000).

(Top photo of Learner Tien: Francois Nel / Getty Images)