Grand Slam children, big-time desires: Blockx, Landaluce & co step up in Jeddah

ATP Tour

Grand Slam children, big-time desires: Blockx, Landaluce & co step up in Jeddah

5 Subsequent Gen ATP Finals debutants show there’s no single path to the highest

December 17, 2025

If junior Grand Slam titles have been entry tickets, the Subsequent Gen ATP Finals offered by PIF would have a really selective door coverage.

5 of the six debutants on this 12 months’s area arrive in Jeddah as former boys’ main champions, a distinction to the 2 returners, People Learner Tien and Nishesh Basavareddy, who’re proving there’s a couple of path to the highest.

Completely different paths, similar vacation spot, and a lineup that underscores simply how deep — and stacked — the following wave of males’s tennis is. For six’4” Belgian Alexander Blockx, that journey started in Melbourne, the place he received the 2023 Australian Open boys’ title.

“It gave me quite a lot of confidence on the court docket that confirmed me that I can actually sustain with the blokes and play in these huge moments,” Blockx advised ATPTour.com, reflecting on his title run in Melbourne. “It positively helped me in my profession, and now I really feel like yearly I’m progressing little by little. I hope it retains going that manner.”

Alexander Blockx wins the 2023 Australian Open boys’ title. Picture: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP through Getty Photographs.

Two gamers Blockx defeated en path to the title — final 12 months’s Jeddah finalists Joao Fonseca and Tien — have since risen contained in the world’s High 30 in 2025, reinforcing the sense that his personal breakthrough is arriving quick.

The long run, nonetheless, isn’t simply knocking, it already has silverware. For Martin Landaluce, the stress arrived early. The Spaniard received the 2022 US Open boys’ title at simply 16, immediately placing a highlight on his profession earlier than it had actually begun.

“It was a terrific second. I believe I am glad to have lived this as a result of I’ve needed to handle stress since I used to be 16 years outdated,” Landaluce stated. “It was powerful at that second, however now I am feeling way more assured, and it is not the primary time I am having individuals watching me and other people saying that I will be close to the highest…

“It is good to have been getting ready myself for this type of stress, and now I can stay it in a great way.”

Martin Landaluce takes a selfie with the Jeddah area on Media Day. Picture: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour.

Now 19, calmer and armed with the instruments he’s developed on the Rafa Nadal Academy — together with a heavy give attention to respiratory and psychological work — Landaluce feels much better outfitted for the eye that follows him. This week in Jeddah, he’s sharing that focus with countryman and shut good friend Rafael Jodar, who etched his title into the identical US Open trophy two years later in 2024.

Jodar has backed that title up with a speedy rise, surging greater than 700 spots within the PIF ATP Rankings to World No. 168 in 2025 and profitable three ATP Challenger Tour titles within the closing three months of the season to safe his Subsequent Gen spot. But he’s cautious to not blur the strains between junior success {and professional} progress.

“I might say that it was most likely the most effective weeks, however I could not say that it is why I’ve finished this stuff this 12 months,” Jodar stated of his US Open run final 12 months. “I believe they’re two worlds. Whenever you play in juniors, you need to face the most effective juniors, however if you play on the Challenger Tour, you play towards different gamers which can be older than you and who’ve extra expertise.”

That leap has confirmed each a actuality verify and a studying curve, however one which Jodar has dealt with easily. The one participant in Jeddah with extra Challenger titles in 2025, nonetheless, is Nicolai Budkov Kjaer.

The 2025 Subsequent Gen ATP Finals offered by PIF area. Picture: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour. 

The 19-year-old Norwegian received the 2024 Wimbledon boys’ singles title after which adopted it with a career-best 2025 season, claiming a Tour-leading 4 Challenger trophies to earn his spot on the Subsequent Gen ATP Finals offered by PIF for the primary time.

“Profitable a junior title is a giant milestone as a participant,” Budkov Kjaer stated when requested about his run on the All England Membership. “It’s per week I’ll keep in mind eternally, and it is good to have it within the baggage of trophies.”

Nonetheless, he is aware of trophies alone don’t assure something on Tour: “I believe all of the juniors play fairly grown-up tennis proper now. I believe it is a larger degree than ever, however it’s worthwhile to modify your acceptance… To just accept that everyone can play excellent tennis and which you can beat and get overwhelmed by everyone.”

Dino Prizmic rounded out his personal junior profession precisely how he wished, profitable the 2023 Roland Garros boys’ title earlier than stepping full-time into the skilled ranks.

“It was a giant second for me as a result of I wished to complete juniors with one title, particularly a Grand Slam title, and I did it, so I am very happy with that,” Prizmic stated.

What adopted was a quick introduction to the realities of the ATP Tour, together with taking a set from Novak Djokovic on the 2024 Australian Open and battling some accidents alongside the way in which. In 2025, the Croatian surged once more, claiming two ATP Challenger Tour titles and reaching his maiden tour-level quarter-final in Umag to safe his place in Jeddah.

5 junior Grand Slam champions, 5 distinct journeys, however none of them similar to the routes taken by Tien or Basavareddy. In Jeddah, the message is evident: Junior titles can open doorways, nevertheless it’s what comes after that earns you a seat on the desk.