Next Gen ATP Finals, from Jannik Sinner to Luciano Darderi: young Italians paw the ground.
Italians paw the ground
There are still eight young Italians in the top 20 positions of the Pepperstone ATP Race to Milan, the season-long ranking of Under-21 tennis players that will determine the eight qualifiers for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, scheduled to be held at the Allianz Cloud in Milan from November 8-12.
The ranking is led by Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, with Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti second and third, respectively, ahead of Denmark’s Holger Rune, who nibbles a few points on the Carrara-based player, who is still at a fairly safe distance (+143 points). Francesco Passaro completes the top10 thanks to excellent results in Italian challengers: the Perugian won in Trieste and played finals in Forlì (beaten by Musetti), Milan and Sanremo.
Stable Giulio Zeppieri (No. 12), Flavio Cobolli (No. 13) and Luca Nardi (No. 14). Remaining in 15th position is Francesco Maestrelli: the 19-year-old from Pisa is one of the young men who climbed the most positions in 2022, going from No. 757 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings at the beginning of the year to the current No. 206 thanks to the points collected with the victory at the Verona challenger (starting from the qualifiers), the final played in the one in Francavilla al Mare and the semifinal in Trieste (defeated by Passaro). Luciano Darderi occupies the 18th position. Very close to the Top 20 is Matteo Arnaldi, 21st just 9 points behind Serb Hamad Medjedovic.
The only notable change in this week’s Race to Milan top ten is the overtaking in fifth place by Czech Jiri Lehecka (No. 5), winner in front of his home crowd at the ATP Challenger in Liberec (Czech Republic), over Briton Jack Draper, who thus dropped to sixth.
