Right at the opening match of the ATP NextGen Finals in Milan there was a little surprise. A Daniil Medvedev, plagued with cramps, surprised his Russian compatriot Karen Khachanov.
In Milan, the starting signal was given for the ATP NextGen Finals in Milan. The mode at the Youngster World Championships has changed somewhat: The sets are played only up to four games at a time, with three sets of winnings – a tiebreak takes place at 3:3; the net rule for the serve is dropped. In addition, there are no line judges, but the Hawk Eye will decide at each point whether the ball was in or out. Nor will there be any advantage in the service game, but the server will decide which side he wants to serve. This point is then decisive for the game win. The last change was the so-called “shot clock”. This is started after the referee’s score has been declared and the serve has 25 seconds from this point in time to perform his serve.
The view of the Court in Milan is a rare sight for the spectators. The playing field has no double lines and therefore looks a bit shrunk. The omission of the double lines is meant to improve the Hawk Eye.
In the youngsters’ first duel, Karen Khachanov and his Russian compatriot Daniil Medvedev were facing each other. And Khachanov got the better start and immediately profited from the “No-Ad rule” and snatched the break with the decision point to 1:0.
New rule, new luck: Khachanov also secured his second decisive point and quickly took the lead 2:0. After three break points, Khachanov took a 3-2 lead against himself and used his third decisive point to win the 4-2 set. After Medvedev’s shallow strokes made the match better and better, the spectators got to see the first tiebreak of the tournament at 3-3. Medvedev scored a 6:5 matchpoint, which his opponent was able to repel with great reactions on the net. Medvedev won the exciting tie-break with a score of 8:6 and evened out in the sets.
After that, the two Russians took the opportunity to contact their coach with a headset for the first time to get instructions from him – another innovation in the rules.
A curious scene took place at the beginning of the third movement. Referee Carlos Bernardes forgot the rule that there is no repetition in case of a net serve and shouted into the rally. Bernardes laughing and the two players made up for the faux pas and the point was repeated. The third round should also be decided in the tiebreak. After Medvedev won nine points in a row, the 21-year-old also won this round 7-3 and took the lead 2-1 in sets.
At the beginning of the fourth movement, Medvedev’s cramps began to hinder Medvedev and limited the movement of the Russian. Medvedev, however, bit his teeth and threw all the risk into his strokes, breaking his opponent’s serve to the decisive break to win the 2:4,4:3 (6), 4:3 (3) and 4:2 match, moving up to Group B’s first place.