This week, the up-and-coming stars of tennis are set to make their mark at this year’s Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah. Eight of the best 20-and-under players will compete in a similar format to the Nitto ATP Finals to see who can finish this year on top. Two of GATC’s previous players, João Fonseca and Luca Van Assche, are featured in that top eight.

This will be Van Assche’s second time competing in the Next Gen ATP Finals. He already claimed his first win in his group against Chinese player Jerry Shang. Last year, he reached the semifinals of the event and eventually lost to Frenchman Arthur Fils. This year, he will be looking to best that result. Van Assche had his best performance at a Grand Slam this year in Australia where he made it to the third round, beating Aussie James Duckworth and Italian Lorenzo Musetti before falling to Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Fonseca is the first Brazilian to qualify since the birth of the event in 2017 and will be the youngest player in the field. He currently sits at a career high ranking of 145. Fonseca fittingly had his breakout tournament in his home country at the 2024 Rio Open. In his first round, he upset seeded Fils, 6-0, 6-4. Not only did he earn his first tour-level win, but he also became the first player born in 2006 to win an ATP match.

Some notable past champions of the Next Gen event include Carlos Alcaraz (2021), Jannik Sinner (2019) and Tsitsipas (2018).

The Next Gen ATP Finals takes place December 18-22 with two round robin groups and the top two winners moving into the semifinals. The format features four-game sets, best-of-five-set format and no-ad scoring. The other six players include Alex Michelsen (USA), Jerry Shang (CHN), Jakub Mensik (CZE), Arthur Fils (FRA), Learner Tien (USA) and Nishesh Basavareddy (USA).