Hyeon Chung is the first winner of the Next Gen ATP Finals. The 21-year-old Korean defeated top-ranked Russian Andrey Rublev on Saturday evening 3-4 (5), 4-3 (2), 4-2,4-2,4-2,4-2. Chung remained without defeat at the tournaments.
Rublev had to beat Chung in the group stage on Tuesday and seemed to have planned a lot. With a heavy serve, followed by a scream of Rublev’s, the former number 1 of the junior rankings clenched a tight first set in the tie-break with 7-5 after 36 minutes.
An early break in the first game of the second set for the Russians seemed to set a landmark direction for the final outcome, but Chung took the momentum in the sixth game, when Rublev was unable to outweigh the set. Only 27 percent of Rublev’s first serve found their target in this round and the reigning Umag champion finally lost the set in the second tie-break of the match.
With continued stoic calm, Chung began to circle and broke Rublev’s serve at the beginning of the third round as a forehand of the Russian landed in the net. The world rankings 54. won the set after two consecutive crashing forehand shots after just over an hour and a half of play.
At the beginning of the fourth set Chung showed his longer breath in the decisive moments and took the lead again after a 25-shot rally with an early break. After one hour and 57 minutes Chung turned his third match point with a Cross-Court winner after a heavy serve.
“I actually played better than him and had dictated the match,”Rublev was visibly angry,”and then I let my emotions run wild and suddenly the whole game started to spin. He was always there, fully focused and showed no emotion. He fought to the end. I’m afraid I lost my head.”
Chung, his country’s first ATP champion since Hyung-Taik Lee Juan-Carlos Ferrero defeated him in the Sydney finals in 2003, must forego ATP World Ranking Points for his victory, but as the undefeated champion of the tournament, he can look forward to a total of $390,000 in prize money.
“Of course I’m overjoyed because I couldn’t imagine winning here at the beginning of the week,” said Chung after his success. I did, however, transfer it to my poker face. Now there may be some time left to celebrate with my family and friends. I look forward to it.”
Before the big final Borna Coric had to cancel the match for third place against Daniil Medvedev due to injury. When Denis Shapovalov was not able to compete in a showmatch, Medvedev and tournament director Ross Hutchins were facing each other in a doubles match with one ball child at each side. Mind you, on a singles court. The introduced innovations greet you.
The significance of such a match for the bronze medal without a podium can be seriously questioned at the latest after these occurrences, at least for all tennis events outside of the Olympic Games.
In the end, however, it was only a small damper for a largely successful premiere event in Milan.
The final also marks the end of the experiment with the new rules, at least for the time being. However, there are many reasons to believe that some of the new features will soon be back on the ATP World Tour. The boss of the men’s tennis circus can well imagine a continuation of the Milanese model.
“In 10 years, much of what we’ve seen at the Next Gen ATP Finals could be a reality on a different level,”Chris Kermode said during the week in northern Italy. Maybe a lot sooner.
Of course, not every single rule will be implemented from one day to the next, but for example the shot clock format with a strict 25-second rule between the change of balls or the player coaching could soon be introduced to the ATP World Tour level.