The NextGen ATP Finals are set to begin this Wednesday, December 18th, as eight of the world’s best 20-and-under players compete to round out the 2024 season. Divided into two groups of four, each player will play three group matches from Wednesday, December 18th to Friday, December 20th at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The two players in each group with the most points will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, December 21st. The championship match will be held on Sunday, December 22nd.
The tournament features innovative rules including best-of-four game sets with no ad scoring, no on-court warm-up between competitors, and live in-match coaching. Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Stefanos Tsitsipas are among the event’s previous champions.
Among those competing in Jeddah includes All-American tennis star Nishesh Basavareddy. The former Stanford Cardinal recently announced his decision to forego his NCAA eligibility to turn professional. Basavareddy ended his collegiate career as a two-time ITA All-American and ITA Fall National Champion in 2022. He led Stanford to a Pac-12 championship in 2024, was the 2024 Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year, and was a two-time All Pac-12 honoree. During his two seasons on the Farm, the Carmel, Indiana native recorded a 41-11 record in singles, including a 14-1 mark in the top position in dual matches, and a 29-14 doubles record.
Although new to the tour, Basavareddy has already recorded impressive results, reaching a career-high ATP Singles Ranking of 138 in the closing weeks of the year. He’s also won two professional events on the ATP Challenger Tour (Tiburon, California and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico) and has reached five ATP Challenger finals. Looking ahead, Basavareddy has earned a main draw entry to the 2025 Australian Open this January.
USC’s Learner Tien will also be among those playing in Jeddah this week. In a shortened season with the Trojans, Tien earned an All-Pac-12 honorable mention, going 3-0 in singles at the No. 2 position, and 6-3 in doubles at the No. 1 spot.
Prior to his time at USC, Tien was the 2023 Australian Open Junior singles runner-up and the Australian Open Boy’s Doubles Champion alongside current collegiate standout Cooper Williams (Duke). He was a semifinalist at the French Open Juniors Singles Championship, and captured the boy’s 18’s Kalamazoo title for two consecutive years, earning an entry into the US Open main draw. The win earned him the title of the youngest player to compete in the men’s US Open singles draw since 2005.
Tien posted a 28-match winning streak on tour this summer, cutting his ranking from outside the Top 450 to a career-high of No. 114.
For more information regarding the event, check out https://www.nextgenatpfinals.com/en.
About The ATP – As the global governing body of men’s professional tennis, the ATP’s mission is to serve tennis. We entertain a billion global fans, showcase the world’s greatest players at the most prestigious tournaments, and inspire the next generation of fans and players. From the United Cup in Australia, to Europe, the Americas and Asia, the stars of the game battle for titles and Pepperstone ATP Rankings points at ATP Masters 1000, 500 and 250 events, and Grand Slams. All roads lead towards the Nitto ATP Finals, the prestigious season finale held in Turin, Italy. Featuring only the world’s top 8 qualified singles players and doubles teams, the tournament also sees the official crowning of the year-end ATP World No. 1, presented by Pepperstone, the ultimate achievement in tennis. For more information, please visit www.ATPTour.com.
About the ITA – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is the governing body and coaches association of college tennis, both an advocate and an authority for the sport and its members. Comprised of 1,260 colleges and universities, 20,000 student-athletes, 1,700 varsity programs, 3,000 coaches, and 1,350 college tennis officials, the ITA empowers college tennis coaches at all levels to deliver vibrant tennis programs that are vital to their college communities and transformational to their student-athletes. Follow the college tennis season on the ITA website and ITA social channels on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
