JEDDAH/WASHINGTON, November 28, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)
Jakub Mensik, who has sat atop the PIF ATP Road To Jeddah standings throughout much of the 2025 season, has qualified for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF for the second straight year. Also, last year’s runner-up, Learner Tien, who won his first ATP Tour title recently in Metz, has qualified, as well as Alexander Blockx, who will be the first player from Belgium to compete at the 20-and-under ATP Tour event.
Meanwhile, last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals champion, Joao Fonseca of Brazil, has withdrawn citing an injury he sustained at the end of the 2025 season.
Mensik, a 20-year-old from Czechia, won his first ATP Tour title last March with Miami Open, a Masters 1000 event, in which he downed three Top-10 players, including Jack Draper in the second round, Taylor Fritz in the semifinals and Novak Djokovic in the title match. He was a five-time quarterfinalist on the ATP Tour this year, including at Brisbane, Auckland, Madrid, Eastbourne and Beijing.
Jakub Mensik is returning to Jeddah #NextGenATPFinals | @mensik_jakub_ pic.twitter.com/miA0zQV6Ax
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) November 26, 2025
Mensik made history in Miami by becoming the youngest titlist in tournament history. Just 19 at the time, he was also just the fifth teen to defeat Djokovic in an ATP Tour match.
“I am super happy and super excited to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals for the second time,” Mensik said, quoted by the ATP Tour website. “The whole year was really good for me, winning my first ATP title with the Masters 1000 in Miami. It was a really great run and makes it even more special finishing the year as a Top 20 player. I am really excited to see you guys in December in Jeddah.”
Tien, 19, from the United States, returns to Jeddah for the second-consecutive year. He was runner-up to Fonseca in 2024. Since then, he completed a standout first full season on the ATP Tour. After reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open, Tien, was a quarterfinalist at Acapulco, where he defeated Alexander Zverev; a quarterfinalist at Mallorca with a win over Ben Shelton; a quarterfinalist at Hangzhou and a finalist at Beijing, losing to Jannik Sinner. He defeated Cameron Norrie in a battle of lefties to win the title at Metz earlier this month. He ended the 2025 season with a 5-4 win-loss record against Top 10 players.
Learner Tien is BACK #NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/n7tywm1fWW
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) November 26, 2025
Block, 20, spent much of his season on the ATP Challenger Tour circuit. He began the season by winning a title in Oeiras, his second at this level. Then, he was a finalist at a Challenger event in Winnipeg. Blockx went on to record tour-level wins in Cincinnati and Metz and won another Challenger Tour title in Bratislava. Blockx reached a career-high ranking of No. 101 earlier this month. Two years ago, he was ranked No. 1 among juniors in both singles and doubles. This season, Blockx was also a member of the Belgium Davis Cup team.
Alexander Blockx is set for his Jeddah debut #NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/uZRh1rxFhC
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) November 27, 2025
The remaining five players in the eight-player Next Gen ATP Finals draw will be announced by the ATP Tour in the coming days. Among those in contention are: Dino Prizmic of Croatia, Martin Landaluce of Spain, Nicolas Budkov Kjaer of Norway, Nishesh Basavareddy of the United States, and Rafael Jodar of Spain. Players will be placed in two four-player groups for round-robin play with the top two players from each group advancing to the semifinal round.
Past champions of the Next Gen ATP Finals include: Hyeon Chung of South Korea (2017), Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece (2018), Jannik Sinner of Italy (2019), Carlos Alcaraz of Spain (2021), Brandon Nakashima of the United States (2022), Hamad Medjedovic of Serbia (2023) and Fonseca (2024).
