The next generation’s attack on the established players on the ATP Tour has rarely been as strong as it was last season on the Challenger Tour. Some legends have also collected points there.
Maximilian Marterer is by no means an old hand in world tennis, on the contrary: the 22-year-old German has just made it to the top 100 in the world, thanks to numerous successes on the ATP-Challenger Tour, such as last time in Eckental. Compared to some other victories on the second level, however, Marterer is almost senior.
For example, Félix Auger-Aliassime won Lyon at the age of 16 years and ten months. With the second title three months later in Seville, the Canadian took second place in the eternal best-ever list: only Richard Gasquet was younger when he won his second Challenger tournament in 2003. Auger-Aliassime’s successes improved by 439 places to 162nd place.
Slightly older – and better ranked in the world ranking – is Denis Shapovalov, compatriot, occasional double partner and permanent buddy of Auger-Aliassime. Shapovalov was also twice successful on the 2017 Challenger tour, both times in his homeland Canada (in Drummondville and Gatineau). Shapovalov, last year’s winner of the junior competition in Wimbledon, made his big breakthrough last summer at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Montréal, where he made it to the semi-finals after victories over Juan Martin del Potro and Rafael Nadal.
A Spaniard with German roots is still a short distance away. But Nicola Kuhn’s success at the ATP-Challenger in Braunschweig showed above all what a fighter he is. Especially since Kuhn was only 17 years and three months old when he won the title. At the junior level, Kuhn had reached the final in Roland garros in 2017.
Towards the end of the year, the Chinese Wu Yibing, the current US open-junior champ, and the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic struck for the first time.
However, the fact that even experienced pros aren’t too bad for scoring points on the Challenger Tour has been demonstrated by Jürgen Melzer, Florian Mayer and Richard Gasquet, among others: The Austrian legend won the titles in Budapest and Wroclaw this spring, and Mayer reached the final in Szczecin. 14 years after his second victory on the Challenger Tour.