The 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals, held at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah from December 18-22, are set to showcase some exciting innovations and unique rules. This year’s tournament features eight of the top 20-and-under players, including Arthur Fils and Jakub Mensik, who will need to adapt to these new regulations.
Scoring System: Matches will be played in a first-to-four-games, best-of-five sets format. Each set will be first to four games with a tie-break at 3-3. The No-Ad scoring format will be used, where the server chooses the service box at 40/40.
Changeover Times: Changeovers have been reduced to ensure fast-moving encounters. Players will change ends and sit down for 90 seconds after the first three games, once more if the set score reaches 3-2, and then again at the end of the set.
On-Court Warmups: After being absent last year, on-court warmups have been reintroduced. Players will warm up for three minutes on court, two minutes fewer than the usual warmups on the ATP Tour.
No Let Rule: Play will continue even if the ball touches the net during a serve, provided it lands in the correct service box. This rule raises the prospect of a player’s reaction time to a net-cord being potentially decisive at a key moment in a match.
Free Fan Movement: For the first three games of the match, fans will be allowed to move freely around the stadium. After the first three games, movement will be restricted to limited areas behind the baseline in direct player view.
Shot Clock: Players will have up to eight seconds between their first and second serve. A shot clock will display the time elapsed between the first and second serve.
Time Between Points: The time between points will be reduced from 25 seconds to 15 seconds if a point is below three shots. For example, a rally of two shots will have a 15-second interval, while a rally of three shots will have a 25-second interval.
Umpire Chair: The umpire chair will be lowered to reduce visual obstruction for fans in the arena.
These rule changes aim to enhance the flow of the game and provide a more engaging experience for both players and fans. Arthur Fils and Jakub Mensik, along with their fellow competitors, will need to quickly adapt to these new regulations to succeed in the tournament.
The Next Gen ATP Finals continue to be a hotbed for innovation, and this year’s edition promises to be no different. With a tournament-record prize money of $2.05 million on offer, the stakes are high, and the competition is fierce.
Arthur Fils in 2024
Now the world no.20 (career-high), Fils played his last match on the 31st of October when he surrendered to world no.2 Alexander Zverev 6-4 3-6 6-3 in the 3rd round in Paris (draw).
At the moment, during this season Arthur has managed to achieve an overall 41-26 match record. Fils conquered 3 titles in 2024 in the Bordeaux Challenger, Hamburg and Tokyo.
Jakub Mensik in 2024
At the moment ranked no.48 (career-high), the Czech played his last match on the 27th of October when he had to retire when playing against world no.70 Corentin Moutet in the qualifications and the scoreline was 7-6(3) .
This year the Czech owns a composed 41-24 win-loss record. Jakub Mensik’s best performance of the year was reaching the final in the Canberra Challenger and Doha.
Arthur Fils and Jakub Mensik have never clashed against each other.