Okay, tennis lovers and betting enthusiasts, with the 2019 NextGen ATP Finals set to get underway in just over 24 hours, now is a perfect time to find out who’s in action and which young stars stand the best chances of winning the now, intriguing event that features eight of the best young players in the world.
Let’s get started with a look at who’s in the field, followed by some insight into the new, fun-filled format.
2019 NEXT Gen ATP Finals Odds, Preview & Predictions
Tournament Info
- When: 5 – 9 November
- Where: Milan, Italy
- TV: ESPN
- Live Stream: Tennistv.com
Format
The tournament has a round-robin format, with eight players divided into two groups of four. All singles matches are the best-of-five sets, with each set the first to four games (not six games).
Wearable Technology
For the first time on the ATP Tour, players will be permitted to use wearable technology in competition this year.
Shorter Format: First to Four games sets (Tie-Break at 3-All), Best-of-Five sets, with No-Ad scoring
Shorter set format designed to increase number of pivotal moments in a match, while the best-of-five set format does not alter the number of games required to win a match (12) from the traditional scoring format. Matches will be played with No-Ad scoring.<?p>
Shorter Warm-Up
Matches begin precisely four minutes from the time the second player walks on court.
Group A
Alex De Minaur
- 2019 NEXT Gen ATP Finals: +162
The 20-year-old Australian is 34-19 on the year with three titles. DeMinaur won in China in September following title wins in Atlanta and Sydney. At No. 18, De Minaur is the highest-ranked player in the NextGen field, although he’s never faced anyone in his group in an ATP Tour main draw before.
Casper Ruud
- 2019 NEXT Gen ATP Finals: +1000
The 20-year-old Norwegian is 22-17 on the year with no titles, but he’s recorded wins over Ernests Gulbis, Matteo Berrettini and Nick Kyrgios among other notable ATP names.
Miomir Kecmanovic
- 2019 NEXT Gen ATP Finals: +800
The 20-year-old Serbian is a modest 22-20 on the year with no titles, but he split with Rudd in two matches while taking out other notbale players like Alexander Zverev, FA2 and Feliciano Lopez in what has been a breakout year for the young star.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
- 2019 NEXT Gen ATP Finals: +2200
The 20-year-old from Spain is an uninspiring 3-7 on the year, but he did reach the finals in China a couple of weeks ago and he did manage to beat extreme quitter Bernard Tomic in June. More importantly, he also recorded some seriously quality wins over daniel Evans, Taylor Fritz, Jeremy Chardy and Gael Monfils to reach the semis in Portugal in May.
Group B
Frances Tiafoe
- 2019 NEXT Gen ATP Finals: +400
The 21-year-old American has struggled in going 21-25 this year with no titles, but make no mistake about it, Tiafoe is seriously gifted and has recorded quality wins over very notable ATP performers like Kevin Anderson, Grigor Dimitrov and David Goffin among others.
Ugo Humbert
- 2019 NEXT Gen ATP Finals: +450
The 21-year-old Frenchman has gone 16-21 on the year with no titles, but he’s also ejoyed what is undeniably a breakout campaign by reaching the fourth round at Wimbly to become just the fifth player in the last 10 years to make the Wimbledon fourth round in his debut. Umbert has taken out the likes of Borna Coric, Gael Monfils, Felix Auger-Aliassime and David Goffin this year.
Mikael Ymer
- 2019 NEXT Gen ATP Finals: +1100
The up-and-coming 21-year-old Swedish sensation is 5-5 on the year, but he’s also recorded quality wins over notable ATP performers like Adrian Mannarino, Dustin Brown and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, so this is a dangerous young future star.
Jannik Sinner
- 2019 NEXT Gen ATP Finals: +450
Skinner is the youngest player in the field at 18-years-old. The youthful Italian has gone 7-9 on the year with no titles, but he beat Monfils and Tiafoe in Belgium while also taking out American Steve Johnson earlier in the year. More impressively, the now world No. 95, began this season at No. 551 in the ATP Rankings.
Prediction
While Alex De Minaur is the prohibitive favorite, I’m going with one of two Group B performers to win it all. I’m going to advise tennis bettors everywhere to back Ugo Humbert to get the confidence-boosting tourney win with Frances Tiafoe as my number two pick. Humbert is supremely talented and more tactical than most of the other players in the field and Tiafo should be very hungry to get the win after his season-long struggles.
Pick: Ugo Humbert
