TENNIS NEWS • RUBLEV, CORIC AMONG WINNERS ON DAY 1 AT NEXTGEN ATP FINALS IN MILAN

Written by: Staff on 7th November 2017

TENNIS NEWS • RUBLEV, CORIC AMONG WINNERS ON DAY 1 AT NEXTGEN ATP FINALS IN MILAN |

By Ricky Dimon

Following a bizarre and controversial draw ceremony earlier in the week in which the NextGen ATP Finals participants were placed into round-robin groups based on which models they liked the most, on-court action mercifully began on Tuesday in Milan. Andrey Rublev, Borna Coric, Hyeon Chung, and Daniil Medvedev earned victories on Day 1 of the inaugural event.

But first, the rules. Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last few months, you know the rules–even if you didn’t watch the tennis on Tuesday. But here they are:

– Three out of five sets

– Sets are first to four, with a tiebreaker (of normal length) played at 3-3

– No-ad scoring

– No lets (a serve off the net that goes in is in play)

– Coaching via headsets allowed in between sets

– No challenges because line calls are made electronically (no linespeople)

– Strictly enforced 25 seconds in between points

– Crowd can move around freely, not just during changeovers

The scoring format is why these results will look foreign to the eyes of even the most hardcore tennis fans:

– Andrey Rublev defeated Gianluigi Quinzi 1-4, 4-0, 4-3(3), 0-4, 4-3(3)

– Borna Coric defeated Jared Donaldson 4-3(2), 4-1, 4-3(5)

– Hyeon Chung defeated Denis Shapovalov 1-4, 4-3(5), 4-3(4), 4-1

– Daniil Medvedev defeated Karen Khachanov 2-4, 4-3(6), 4-3(3), 4-2

“It was actually amazing,” Medvedev said after winning the first match of the week–the first-ever NextGen ATP Finals match. “The crowd was big. Playing against your friend (Khachanov) for the first time on the ATP was a special feeling. I really liked it.

“I like most of the rules. I like to play without the let; it’s just fun. I like the deciding point. One minute (and) 30 (seconds) between games, two minutes between the sets gives you more time to recover . I didn’t really like that the crowd can walk (during points); this is too much I think. That’s probably the only thing.”

Medvedev and Coric, the two winners in Group B, will go head-to-head on Wednesday. That leaves Khachanov to face Donaldson. In Group A, Rublev will meet Chung and Shapolov will square off against Quinzi.