Race to Milan: Which rookies can attack in 2022?
The NextGen Masters in Milan has long been established. And some champions of the past are leaving their mark on the ATP Tour. Who are the next youngsters that could be considered?
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Feb 07, 2022, 06:47 pm
Despite all the love for performances in his homeland: Jannik Sinner tasted blood in Turin last year, another appearance at the NextGen finals, which Sinner won in 2019, is out of the question for the South Tyrolean. Even if Sinner leads the ranking of the U-21 players: The goal this time is direct participation in the ATP Finals. The same probably applies to Carlos Alcaraz , who won the young aces' showdown in November last year.
So who could make it big this late autumn under the special conditions in Milan? Dominic Stephan Stricker is a force to be reckoned with here at an early stage. After his success at the ATP Challenger tournament in Cleveland, the Swiss is in second place in the still very young Race to Milan, just ahead of Alcaraz.
Zverev prefers the ATP Finals
Jack Draper would also be a candidate. The tall Brit was able to steal a set from the eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the first round of Wimbledon last year, and this season Draper, like Stricker, has already won a tournament in the Challenger series (Forli 2).
Along the way, Draper defeated the next potentially strong Italian in Luca Nardi. The 18-year-old got the first edition of the Challenger series in Forli. Lorenzo Musetti can almost be considered a routine player, but like compatriot Sinner, Musetti has higher expectations.
There is a lot of room for improvement from a German-speaking point of view: Austrian Filip Misolic is in shared 18th place, Max Rehberg is the best German in 60th place. The good news: the season is still young, there will still be opportunities for Misolic and Rehberg give enough. In any case, it's about time that German was finally spoken at the NextGen Finals. Because Alexander Zverev did not exercise his right to play in the premiere edition. And preferred only to compete at the ATP Finals, then still in London.