Carlos Alcaraz names radical rule change he doesnt want to see on ATP Tour

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Carlos Alcaraz has opened up on the one Next Gen Finals rule he doesn’t want to see implemented on the ATP Tour. The 18-year-old won the fourth edition of the 21-and-under tournament on Saturday (November 13). The year-end competition for top young players tests out rules not seen on the main ATP Tour, and has been behind the introduction of new guidelines on tour including the shot clock and the four-minute warm-up.

Alcaraz has been one of the most successful young players on tour this year, and cemented that status with a title win at the Next Gen Finals in Milan.

The tournament follows the format of the year-end ATP Finals – seeing eight players aged 21-and-under qualify based on how many points they have won in the season, competing in round-robin groups in attempt to make it to the semi-finals and final.

The 18-year-old has enjoyed a stellar season, starting the year ranked down at world No 141 and ending it at No 32, having won his first title at the Umag ATP 250, as well as making a Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open and reaching semi-finals in Marbella, Winston-Salem and Vienna.

He topped it off with an undefeated title run at the Next Gen Finals, entering the tournament as the top seed following the withdrawal of Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

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The Next Gen Finals tournament is known for being something of a guinea pig event for unique and sometimes controversial new rules and formats.

The tournament is best-of-five but sets are played as first-to-four games rather than the traditional first-to-six, with a tiebreak at 3-3 where standard tiebreaks are at 6-6.

While the fast four sets are unlikely to make their way onto the main ATP Tour, a number of other rules tested out at the 21-and-under event over the years have been implemented year-round, including the shot clock which counts down the 25-seconds players have to serve.

The 1-4-1 rule from the tournament’s first edition back in 2017 has also become a mainstay on the ATP Tour, with the rule allowing players to have one minutes to gather themselves at their benches and come to the net for the coin toss, four minutes for the warm-up rather than the old five minutes, and an extra minute to get back to their benches and back to the baseline to begin the match.

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While some of the Next Gen Finals rule changes have been successful, new champion Alcaraz has slammed one regulation he doesn’t want to see introduced on the pro tour for the full season.

“The one minute of warm-up, you have no time to warm up,” he said on Saturday (November 13).

After the success of the four-minute warm up, organisers tested out a drastically shortened one-minute warm up at the 2021 edition of the Next Gen Finals, but it seems the recent champion isn’t a fan.

He continued: “I would say for the player, you can’t warm up everything, every shot, the volley, the serve, the backhand, the forehand, at all.

“I would say that you have to warm up four minutes to play forehands, backhands, volley, serve, smash, everything to start the match in the best way possible.”

Other rules implemented in this year’s event included coaching from the stands, after the three previous editions allowed for ‘headset coaching’ – where players and coaches could communicate during the change-of-ends via a headset.

Speaking on the other unique features of the tournament, the world No 32 said: “There are some rules that I would keep and there are some other rules that I don’t really like.”

Alcaraz defeated Holger Rune, Brandon Nakashima in the group stages Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

He then beat Sebastian Baez in the semi-final and second seed Sebastian Korda in the final, dropping just one set all week to Cerundolo.

Speaking on his week in Milan, the Next Gen Finals champion said: “I feel amazing. It’s pretty good to end the year in the best way possible, winning this title, playing great matches against great players. I mean, it’s the best way to finish the year.”

He joins the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Jannik Sinner as previous champions, and the pair have enjoyed great success since winning the year-end 21-and-under event.

Tsitsipas lifted the title in 2018 and, the very next year, won the ATP Finals at London’s O2 Arena, as the tournament sees the top eight players of the year on the pro tour battle it out for 1500 points and the season-ending championship trophy.
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