ATP Next Gen final set as Fils smashes Van Assche and Medjedovic wins

While the ATP Next Gen Finals have missed a few fantastic players this week, such as Ben Shelton, Carlos Alcaraz, and Holger Rune, this has allowed tennis fans to get a peak as the other potentially great players in the next generation. One of those potential stars is Arthur Fils who was electric in his semifinal against fellow Frenchman Luca Van Assche.

Van Assche put up a fight, taking the first 4-2 and saving one match point on his serve in the fourth set. He just doesn’t yet, and might not ever, have Fils’ overall power. Fils has an extremely high ball toss on his serve, but that works for him as he can blast the ball over 130 MPH and has a wicked forehand as well. What he needs to work on to take the next step toward being a top-ten ATP player is his consistency.

Fils won the match 2-4 4-1 4-3(1) 4-3(6) – that scoring is the ATP Next Gen Finals being a bit creative in ways to speed up the game – and had 9 aces (6 for Van Assche) and 24 winners. He was by far the more aggressive player and that was the deciding part of the match. Van Assche simply does not yet have Fils’ confidence to swing away.

Fils and Medjedovic move into the final at the ATP Next Gen Finals

Before I get to the other abbreviated semifinal, I just have a question. What is going on with the odd red lighting of the crowd at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? On TV, it appears the players are playing a tennis match in the middle of the filming of a horror film.

As far as the other semifinal, it did not last a full two sets. Serbian and Novak Djokovic protege Hamad Medjedovic won the match after winning the first set 4-3 but Dominic Stricker was clearly suffering with a leg injury that was getting worse the longer the players played. Stricker was forced to retire early in the second set.

The ATP Next Gen Finals final now features two players who have gone unbeaten during the tournament, Arthur Fils and Hamad Medjedovic. This is how the tournament should end with the two best players facing off. My pick is that Medjedovic wins in four sets.