The final Masters' tournament of the year has finished, but there are still tournaments to go. This week we dig into the Next Gen Finals 2022.

Next Gen Finals 2022

For those who haven't followed the Next Gen Finals before, it's similar to the ATP Finals, but with the top-ranked players on or below 21 years of age. Holger Rune and Carlos Alcaraz are not playing this year. Carlos is injured and already ATP world number one, and Rune is a reserve for the ATP Finals thanks to his win in Paris.

But the playing field for the Next Gen Finals 2022 is still pretty strong. These are the players battling for a sizable chunk of prize money.

Francesco Passaro, Chun-Hsin Tseng, Brandon Nakashima, Lorenzo Musetti, Jack Draper, Jiri Lehecka, Dominic Stricker, and Matteo Arnaldi.

The field includes three Italians, which shows how strong Italian tennis is currently.

Next Gen Finals Prize Money

The total prize money of the 2022 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan is $1,400,000.

Milan Participation Fee Schedule
1 Match: $41,125
2 Matches: $61,690
3 Matches: $82,250

Format

The Next Gen Finals has a round-robin format, with eight players divided into two groups of four. All singles matches are the best-of-five sets, with each set the first to four games (not six games).

The final standings of each group shall be determined by the first of the following methods that apply:

a) Greatest number of wins.

b) Greatest number of matches played.
Comment: 2-1 won-loss record beats a 2-0 won-loss record; a 1-2 record beats a 1-0 record.

c) Head-to-head results if only two (2) players are tied.

Rules

Below are the returning rules and innovations for the 2022 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals:

– First-to-4, Best-of-5 Set Matches

– No-Ad Scoring

– Free Fan Movement

– Live Electronic Line Calling

– Video Review

– Towel Racks

Updated rules

The idea with the Next Gen Finals is to test rules that speed up the action.  Such as a quicker Shot Clock (15 secs on aces and double faults), one sit-down per set, 3-minute warm-up.

Off-court coaching will be allowed.

Predictions

It's very difficult to predict the Next Gen finals, but looking at previous years, it seems like the favorite always wins (Tsitsipas, Sinner, Alcaraz). The most experienced player in the field is Musetti, and playing at home should be a bonus for him. That's why I'll pick Musetti for the title, with Draper as an outside favorite.

Who do you think will win and will you be watching?

For This Week in Tennis (31), we go to the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. and Los Cabos in Mexico with some exciting players in action.

It's been another busy week on tour this week. The final ATP clay-court events took place this week in Kitzbuhel and Umag, with Roberto Bautista Agut and Jannik Sinner taking home the titles.

The Australian, Alex de Minaur, won his first title of the season and sixth overall in Atlanta, while Caroline Garcia defeated world number 1 Iga Swiatek to win the Poland Open.

This Week In Tennis (31)

As we get closer to the US Open, this week sees players battle it in Washington, Los Cabos, and San Jose.

Citi Open (ATP 500 & WTA 250)

The joint ATP and WTA event in Washington, DC, attracts many of the world's top players.

Headlining the men's event is world number 8, Andrey Rublev, who is up against Hubert Hurkacz, Taylor Fritz, Grigor Dimitrov, Denis Shapovalov and Nick Kyrgios.

The defending champion, Jannik Sinner, has not entered this year's tournament.

Several players could lift the trophy, but I'm predicting the 2019 champion, Nick Kyrgios, to win his second title in Washington.

Women's tournament

On the women's side, the number 1 seed and defending champion, Jessica Pegula, leads a strong line-up that includes Emma Raducanu, Simona Halep, and Victoria Azarenka.

Halep seems to be rediscovering her best tennis this season. After an impressive semi-final appearance at Wimbledon, I wouldn't be surprised if the Romanian continues this run of form through the US hard-court swing.

Prediction – Kyrgios and Halep to win

Los Cabos (ATP 250)

Daniil Medvedev will be looking for his first title of the year but will face tough competition from the ever-dangerous Felix Auger Aliassime, defending champion Cameron Norrie, and the rising Serb Miomir Kecmanovic.

The youngster, Brandon Nakashima, and Australian Open Men's Doubles champion, Thanasi Kokkinakis, are also in action.

Prediction – Medvedev to win

Silicon Valley Classic (WTA 500)

This year's tournament in San Jose, California, is arguably the most intriguing of the week.

The WTA world number 3, 4, 5, and 6, Maria Sakkari, Paula Badosa, Ons Jabeur and Aryna Sabalenka all aim to take home the title for the first time.

To add to the already high-quality list of players competing, Coco Guaff, Daria Kasatkina, Karolina Pliskova, Amanda Anisimova and Naomi Osaka will also be looking to make their way through the draw and lift the trophy.
Given the stacked field, the Silicon Valley Classic will undoubtedly deliver some blockbuster matches from round 1.

Thus, this is a tough tournament to predict, but I will go with Amanda Anisimova. The American has been remarkably consistent in 2022, reaching at least the fourth round of the past three slams and winning the hard-court tournament in Melbourne at the beginning of the year.

Prediction – Anisimova to win

We're doing a segment called “This week in tennis”, where we look at what is happening on the tours and give our tournament predictions.

Thanks to Alex Mann for his tournament predictions for week 29.

Last week, we crowned three new champions on the ATP and WTA tour. Maxime Cressy won his first title at the grass-court event in Newport, USA, Bernarda Pera won her first WTA singles title on the clay in Budapest Hungary, and Francisco Cerundolo also captured his first ATP title defeating Sebastien Baez to win the Swedish Open.

Petra Martic was the only champion this week who had previously won a title on tour, lifting the trophy in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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One of the oldest tennis tournaments in the world

The biggest tournament of this week is the joint ATP and WTA event in Hamburg, Germany. The Hamburg European Open is one of the oldest tennis tournaments in the world, with the first edition of the event taking place 130 years ago, in 1892.

Past champions have included Rod Laver, Guillermo Vilas, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on the men's side.

Players Otto Froitzheim and Gottfried von Cramm won the men's event six times during the early 20th Century.

The first edition of the women's tournament was held in 1982, with Lisa Bonder-Kreiss winning the title. Past champions have included Steffi Graff, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Conchita Martínez, Martina Hingis, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters.

Steffi Graff won the title a record 6 times, consecutively between 1987 and 1992.

The women's event wasn't held between 2003-2020 and Elena-Gabriela Ruse defeated Andrea Petkovic to win the title in 2021.

We also have an ATP tournament in Gstaad this week. While on the WTA tour, players will battle it out in Palmero.

Here are my predictions for this week's tournaments.

Hamburg European Open (ATP 500 and WTA 250)

Pablo Carreno Busta will be looking to defend his men's title from last year against a stacked lineup, including Carlos Alcaraz, the 2020 champion Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov.

Promising youngsters Lorenzo Musetti and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina are also competing.

The third, fifth, sixth and eighth seeds, Diego Schwartzman, Biotic van de Zandschulp, Nikoloz Basilashvili and Holger Rune have already been knocked out of the tournament.

I think Alcaraz will continue his dominance on tour and win his first title in Hamburg.

Prediction – Alcaraz to win

On the women's side, Anett Kontaveit is the top seed and will look to improve on her inconsistent year. The 2021 French Open champion, Barbora Krejcikova, is also in the draw as well as Aliaksandra Sasnovich and last year's finalist, Andrea Petkovic.

Defending champion Elena-Gabriela Ruse lost in the first round to last week's Hungarian Ladies Open champion, Bernarda Pera.

Krejcikova lost in the first round in Hungary last week, so I think she will be hoping to go deep in this tournament.

Prediction – Krejcikova to win

Swiss Open (ATP 250)

Gstaad, Switzerland, hosts one of the most picturesque tournaments on the tennis circuit. Set within the Swiss mountains, the 124-year-old event sees the defending champion Casper Ruud attempt to win a second successive title.

It won't be easy for Ruud with big-hitting Matteo Berrettini, Roberto Bautista Agut, Albert Ramos Viñolas, Richard Gasquet and Dominic Thiem all trying to take the title from the Norwegian.

Thiem looks to be slowly improving after a long injury layoff, defeating Bautista Agut last week.

Berrettini hasn't played since withdrawing from Wimbledon with Covid-19. However, with his big game and ability to play on all surfaces, I think he can regain his pre-Wimbledon grass-court form and take home the title.

Prediction – Berrettini to win

Palermo Ladies Open (WTA 250)

Martina Trevisan was the top seed at this year's tournament but withdrew due to injury. Yulia Putintseva, Zhang Shuai, Sara Sorribes Tormo, and Caroline Garcia headline the action in Italy.

Caroline Garcia has made a good transition from the grass to the clay and made the semi-final of Lausanne last week, so I'm predicting the Frenchwoman to win.

Prediction – Garcia to win

Wimbledon has ended, but what is going on during this week in tennis (week 28) on ATP and WTA tours. We're on two surfaces, clay and grass.

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This week in tennis (28)

Although this year’s Wimbledon tournament has come to a close, we are never far away from competitive action on the tennis circuit.

The post-Wimbledon tournaments on the ATP and WTA tour include the Nordea Open, held in Sweden, and the Ladies Open Lausanne, held in Switzerland.

A good number of top players have entered, looking to get more practice in before the US hard-court swing, or perhaps gain some more ranking points.

Here are my predictions for this week’s tournaments.

Nordea Open (ATP 500)

There is a stacked line-up at this year’s Swedish Open, with the likes of Andrey Rublev, Diego Schwartzman, Roberto Bautista Agut, Pablo Carreno-Busta and Holger Rune taking part.

Top seed and defending champion, Casper Ruud was upset in the second round by Argentina's Francisco Cerúndolo. On paper, Ruud should have won this match, but Cerúndolo is a promising young player and recently took a set off Nadal in the first round of Wimbledon, so I’m not totally surprised by the result.

Prediction – Carreno Busta to win

Hall of Fame Open (ATP 250)

If anyone is missing the grass court season, you’re in luck as Newport, USA hosts the last grass court tournament of the ATP season.

Félix Auger-Aliassime is the top seed and will be looking for his first title in Newport. The second seed, John Isner has won the tournament four times so I wouldn't be surprised if he wins again. Other notable entries are the serve and volley specialist, Maxime Cressy, Alexander Bublik and a surprise appearance from Andy Murray.

Prediction – Isner to win

Ladies Open Lausanne (WTA 250)

On the WTA tour, Switzerland is currently hosting the Ladies Open Lausanne tournament.

Top seed Danielle Collins wasn't able to swap her grass court shoes for clay court ones as she was knocked out in the first round by Swiss wildcard, Simona Waltert.

Caroline Garcia and Belinda Bencic have both progressed to the second round and look like the players to beat.

Prediction – Bencic to win

Hungarian Grand Prix (WTA 250)

Barbora Krejcikova, Martina Trevisan, Yulia Putintseva and Aliaksandra Sasnovich all took part in the clay court tournament held in Budapest.

Krejcikova couldn’t find her form as she lost in the first round to the youngster, Xiyu Wang in straight sets.

I’m going to predict Martina Trevisan to win the title. She reached the French Open semi-final this year so has had recent success on the clay.

Prediction – Trevisan to win