The Race to Milan is progressing rather slowly - with one exception
At the end of the year, the best U21 players in the world are to compete again in Milan. By far the best in this age group will probably miss the #NextGen Finals.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: May 10, 2022, 05:40 pm
In order to earn 45 points for the ATP world rankings, you have to have a small winning streak on the Challenger Tour. In the current ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome, on the other hand, success in round one is enough. In this sense, Flavio Cobolli missed a potentially good chance against Jenson Brooksby on Monday not only to work his way up the charts, but also in the Race To Milan, the annual ranking of the under-21 players. There Cobolii is just listed as eighth, this position would entitle him to participate in the #NextGen Finals. Theoretically.
In practice, however, the best in class will not play in Milan. Because Carlos Alcaraz , who has just turned 19, naturally has bigger goals now. He will serve for the first time at the ATP Finals in Turin, after four titles in the current season he will no longer fall out of the top eight of the "general" annual ranking. What's more, Alcaraz already won the next-generation season finale in 2021, so why should he come back to Milan when bigger tasks await?
Sinner will probably no longer play in Milan either
Actually the same goes for the second in the boys' race. Because Jannik Sinner , along with Alcaraz the only U21 man who has already collected more than 1,000 points, tasted blood when he appeared as a substitute in Turin last November. A return to the young aces seems almost impossible.
Behind Alcaraz and Sinner are Munich champions Holger Rune and Lorenzo Musetti , two men who have also served in Milan. So the first real newcomer would be Jack Draper, who is also a 20-year-old Brit. Jiri Lehecka, who was a finalist at the Challenger in Mauthausen last week, also has good prospects of starting in Milan.
From eighth place, i.e. that of Flavio Cobolli, everything is open. The 20-year-old Italian is currently holding 192 annual points. And that's just 100 more than 17th in the standings, Brazilian Matheus Pucinelli De Almeida.