The best players under the age of 22 will compete over the next couple of days in the Next Gen ATP Finals to prove who is the best youngster on tour.

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have won the Next Gen ATP Finals in years gone by, with the pair sharing the four Major titles in 2024.

This year’s field is stacked, with the top eight players all choosing to compete, a big change from recent years where many skipped the event.

Arthur Fils, the winner of two ATP 500 titles this year, is the top seed at the event, but there are plenty of names that could lift the trophy in a few day’s time.

One of which, has a serve that has now been compared to that of a 20-time Grand Slam champion.

Jason Goodall says Jakub Mensik’s serve is ‘Roger Federer like’

Speaking on the Tennis Channel Live podcast, Jason Goodall and Chris Eubanks were asked which of the eight stars at the Next Gen ATP Finals has the best serve.

“I am going to go with [Jakub] Mensik,” said Eubanks.

“I saw his serve first hand, he has an absolute bomb, he can hit mid to high 130’s with relative consistency.

“I think he has the variety because the slice serve for him is so big it opens up the flat serves, it opens up the t and the deuce, the wide and the ads.

“As a returner sometimes you have to lean a little bit to get any type of clue but he can hit all the spots.”

Goodall agreed with the former Wimbledon quarter-finalist as he compared the young Czech star to one of the sport’s greats.

“When he built up a nice rhythm on serve you could see he was holding serve really quickly,” he said.

“It was [Roger] Federer like, under 60 seconds, hold after hold after hold.

“That gives him an opportunity to build up momentum, create confidence within matches, and can really hurt opponents.”

Mensik lost his opening match at the 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals in a thrilling contest with America’s Learner Tien.

The 19-year-old led 7-6 in the fifth-set tiebreaker but eventually came up short, as he left himself with a lot of work to do in the Blue Group.

Mensik will take on Fils on Thursday, who also lost his opening match, with the pair desperately in need of a win to keep their semi-final hopes alive.

Can Jakub Mensik break into the ATP top 20 in 2025?

Mensik won ATP Newcomer of the Year in 2024, as he impressed fans rising 119 places to finish the year ranked inside the world’s top 50.

The Czech 19-year-old reached his first career ATP final this year, as he fell to Karen Khachanov at the Qatar Open, 6-7 (12-14), 4-6.

Mensik lost to Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters earlier this year, as he reached the last eight of a Masters 1000 for the first time in his career.

Remarkably, the teenager took the first set against the Serb, before falling in three sets to the eventual finalist.

It had been an impressive week in China, as Mensik scored two top-ten wins against Andrey Rublev, and Grigor Dimitrov, as he continued to prove that he belongs with the very best in men’s tennis.

In fact, his record against top-ten players is unbelievable for someone so young, as he leads 4-3, thanks to his performances in 2024.

Cracking the top 20 will be a tough ask in the new year, but if Mensik can continue the form he showed at times this season, then we could well be seeing the 19-year-old rise the rankings pretty quickly.

Following the conclusion of the Next Gen ATP Finals in Saudi Arabia, Mensik will get his 2025 season started at the Brisbane International which begins on December 30.

Related Posts