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The Future Is Bright
December 16 - December 22 (Mailbag & Weekly Recap)
We are heading into the final week of the offseason, and the Next Gen Finals have crowned its next rising star!
As always, there is plenty to discuss, so let’s get into this week’s topics, presented by SuckerPunch! 🥒
New Videos!!!
We have another brand new video on our channel! It dives into the current state of doubles on tour today! There might be some special guests weighing in as well… 👀
Check it out and let us know your thoughts!
What Happened Last Week?
The Next Gen ATP Finals took place in Jeddah last week.
The world’s best 20-and-under players competed in two round robin groups of 4, with the top two from each group advancing to the semifinals.
The field consisted of Arthur Fils, Alex Michelson, Jakub Mensik, Shang Juncheng, Learner Tien, Luca Van Assche, Nishesh Basavareddy, & Joao Fonseca.
Fonseca won the Blue Group 3-0 with wins over Tien, Fils, & Mensik. Michelson won the Red Group 3-0, defeating Van Assche, Basavareddy, & Shang.
Tien & Van Assche finished second in their respective groups with 2-1 records.
In the semifinals, Tien beat fellow American Michelson in 5 short sets 2-4 4-2 1-4 4-0 4-1. Also, Fonseca got the better of Van Assche in straight sets 4-2 4-2 4-1.
The final was a 4-set affair with Fonseca eventually coming out on top over Tien 2-4 4-3 (8) 4-0 4-2.
Previous Next Gen champs like Jannik Sinner & Carlos Alcaraz have translated that success to the main tour, so we will see if the same is true for Fonseca.
Live Ranking Update: The Biggest Movers Of The Week
The ATP Next Gen Finals did not award ranking points, so no updates here this week.
But that won’t be the case for long with the 2025 season right around the corner!
Major Tournament Updates
The 2025 season is just about here!
The next big events to look forward to are the United Cup and the start of the Australian Open lead-up tournaments:
ATP/WTA United Cup - Perth & Sydney (December 27 - January 5, 2025)
ATP/WTA Brisbane International (December 30 - January 5, 2025)
ATP Hong Kong Open (December 30 - January 5, 2025)
WTA ASB Classic - Auckland (December 30 - January 5, 2025)
Watch Out For These Players
Joao Fonseca:
The 2024 ATP Next Gen Finals champ is only 18 years old, and won the title as the lowest ranked player in the tournament (#145).
He defeated world No. 20 Arthur Fils en route to the total, and played some lights out tennis all week long.
Fonseca played mainly on the Challenger tour this past season, winning one title and making one other final.
If he can maintain this current form in 2025, he won’t be on the Challenger tour for much longer.
Mirra Andreeva:
Here’s a crazy stat for you: if there was a WTA Next Gen Finals, 16th-ranked Andreeva would be the 3 seed! That speaks to how much young talent there is on the WTA Tour nowadays.
This 17-year-old has already made a name for herself, winning her first career title and going 34-16 overall in 2024. She still struggles to close out tight matches on big stages, but that skill will come with time and experience.
She will be a force to be reckoned with, and will look to build on a season that also saw her make her first career Grand Slam semifinal.
Off The Court
Brooksby opens up about living with Autism:
In an interview with AP last week, former world #33 Jenson Brooksby discussed how he presented as a “very severe case” as a child. He was nonverbal until the age of 4.
As a child, he spent about 40 hours a week with therapists just to be able to start talking. He is now on the “very mild side of the spectrum”.
Brooksby called the autism a “big strength” on court in “pressure moments”, allowing him to “focus on two or three specific details really well for a long period of time”.
Brooksby has been through a lot already in his short career, but hopefully 2025 will be a successful one for the American.
Halep, Cruz Hewitt granted Australian Open Qualfying Wildcards:
Former world No. 1 Simona Halep and the son of a former No. 1 Cruz Hewit both received wildcards into the qualifying competition at next month’s Australian Open.
Halep is coming back from a suspension, and this will be the first major tournament of her comeback. The 2018 runner-up said she was excited to return to the tournament after three years away: “I have been working hard to get ready for the 2025 season. The Australian Open has provided me with some of the best moments of my career, so I can’t wait to be back in Melbourne and playing in front of the Aussie fans.”
Hewitt will be looking to match his father by making his Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open.
Cruz has acknowledged that there would be comparisons made between him and his father: “it is what it is, but I don’t really mind… It just drives me to be better.”
Hewitt is also expected to compete in the junior Aussie Open draw.
Djokovic, Kyrgios set to play doubles in Brisbane:
Novak Djokovic & Nick Kyrgios will team up at the Brisbane International.
Kyrgios made the announcement via his Instagram story on last Monday:
This partnership comes as the pair have seemed to form a friendship in recent years, despite Kyrgios referring to the Serbian as a “bonehead” and a “tool” in the past.
Both players will also be competing in the singles event.
The Brisbane International, an ATP 250 event, begins on December 29, kicking off the lead up to the year’s first major.
What’s The Dill???
Welcome to the What’s The Dill portion of this week’s newsletter, brought to you by SuckerPunch! Every week we will feature the best question(s) asked on our “What’s The Dill” post which can be found under the Community tab on the Courtside Tennis YouTube channel.
This week’s question comes from @arnavmehta-r1b:
This fan wants to know who are some players who have had great success throughout their career, but can be unpredictable in their results.
There are two players that immediately come to mind for me for this question: Frances Tiafoe & Sloane Stephens.
Both of these players have had very successful careers so far. Both have been ranked inside the top ten, Sloane is a Grand Slam champ, and they have a combined 11 career titles. They are also two of the most talented and athletic players on tour.
While these are all solid accomplishments, some would argue that neither of them have reached their full potential, and consistent motivation is a huge reason why.
Frances is a player who loves to feed off of crowd energy, and enjoys playing against the best of the best. His overall record this season was 33-26, but he was 4-3 against top ten opposition. It’s also no surprise that his best slam result came at the US Open (semifinal).
The key for Frances is keeping the same competitive energy and fire in EVERY tournament, not just the big ones. He has the talent, and part of bringing David Witt onto his coaching team was to address this issue.
Stephens is in a similar boat, but her results have been much more inconsistent. For example, Sloane had a great start to the clay season this year, making the 3rd round of Charleston, and winning a 250 title. However, in her next 5 clay tournaments, she went 2-5, including a first round loss at Roland Garros.
Consistent motivation is something that Sloane also struggles with, and even in her best years, she has struggled to put multiple good runs together.
Since winning the US Open in 2017, she has lost in the first round in New York 3 times, and has only made it past the first week once (2018).
Sloane is truly an enigma because she can beat anyone in the world on a good day, but can also lose to just about anyone. This season she posted wins over #13 Daria Kasatkina, #22 Sorana Cirstea, & #23 Caroline Garcia. But on the flip side, she ended her season with consecutive one-sided loses to #152 Oliva Gadecki & #105 Hailey Baptiste.
It would be truly impossible to predict how her 2025 season will go, but let's hope that we get the feisty, gritty Sloane that won a slam and reached #3 in the world.
Also before I forget, make sure to check out some of my favorite products from SuckerPunch linked below! Use code ‘Courtside-Punch’ for 25% off!
Highlights Of The Week
Check out some of the highlights from the ATP Next Gen Finals, plus a special holiday treat…
Boom goes the Fonseca forehand 💣
#NextGenATPFinals
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV)
5:55 PM • Dec 22, 2024
Drop shot 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 👌
Fonseca in control, running away with the third 4-0 🫡
#NextGenATPFinals
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals)
6:24 PM • Dec 22, 2024
Joao with the RESPONSE ⚡️
Fonseca levels the match, claiming the second set vs Tien 4-3(8)!
#NextGenATPFinals
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals)
6:06 PM • Dec 22, 2024
We went deep into the archives to summon this festive cheer🎄
Enjoy this… beautiful… rendition 😅❄️
— ATP Tour (@atptour)
12:19 PM • Dec 23, 2024
One Last Thing!
Once again, If you guys want your questions answered in next week’s newsletter check out the post in the Community tab of the Courtside Tennis YouTube channel. You can also email us, drop them in the discord, or leave a comment on our most recent Youtube video. Make sure to put Courtside Digest before the comment so that way we can find it more easily. Thanks!