One of the intriguing components of the ATP Challenger Tour is the prospect to witness the sport’s brightest younger stars earlier than they evolve into family names on the season’s most prestigious occasions.
Each week gamers work laborious to safe factors, prize cash, and the prospect to launch their profession to new heights. In 2022, a number of kids made a sudden impression on the Challenger Tour and now they maintain excessive hopes of furthering their careers this upcoming season.
ATPTour.com appears to be like at 5 Challenger Tour gamers to keep watch over in 2023, together with Frenchman Luca Van Assche, who appears to be like to construct upon his late-season surge whereas Italy’s Francesco Passaro hopes to make use of the dear Milan expertise as a stepping stone in his profession.
Luca Van Assche
The 18-year-old, who received the 2021 Roland Garros boys’ singles title, has received 9 of his previous 10 matches, together with gathering his maiden Challenger title on the Maia Challenger. The Frenchman was additionally a finalist on the Lisbon, Brest, and Valencia Challengers.
Now at a career-high 137 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Van Assche goals to proceed his robust run to open the brand new season, together with on the Canberra Challenger, the place the teenager will compete subsequent week.
“My objective is to proceed like how I ended the yr, with quite a lot of confidence,” Van Assche told ATPTour.com. “I’m simply working laborious each day and my objective is to be within the Top 100 as quickly as doable.”
Francesco Passaro
Following the Italian’s standout yr, which earned him a spot on the Next Gen ATP Finals, Passaro is closing in on making his Top 100 debut. A five-time Challenger finalist in 2022, Passaro earned his maiden title on the Trieste Challenger, the place he rallied from a set right down to defeat Zhang Zhizhen within the championship match.
Passaro was considered one of seven Italian #NextGenATP Challenger champions this previous season. The Perugia native joined countrymen Matteo Arnaldi, Mattia Bellucci, Flavio Cobolli, Francesco Maestrelli, Lorenzo Musetti, and Luca Nardi.
Juncheng Shang
At the Lexington Challenger, the Chinese teen turned the youngest (17 years, 6 months) participant to win a Challenger title since Carlos Alcaraz at Alicante in 2020 and the youngest Chinese champion in Challenger Tour historical past.
After a runner-up end in Granby and a semi-final look in Las Vegas, the lefty cracked the Top 200 for the primary time. The Beijing native, who turned the primary participant born in 2005 to win a Challenger title, now units his sights on a robust yr with hopes of qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals.
Gabriel Diallo
Earlier this month, the 6’7” teen introduced he’ll forego his senior season on the University of Kentucky and switch skilled. The Canadian had already seen his sport translate properly to the Challenger Tour. Now tennis might be his full-time job.
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In August, just one week after claiming his first Challenger main-draw win in Vancouver, Diallo was lifting his maiden Challenger trophy. The Montreal native was unfased as he received on dwelling soil in Granby and the next month completed runner-up on the Fairfield Challenger (l. Mmoh). The 21-year-old enters the brand new yr as 227 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.
Timofey Skatov
At the Challenger 125 occasion in Parma, Italy, Skatov turned the one Kazakh Challenger champion of the yr. The World No. 142 defeated Jozek Kovalik, who was on a nine-match successful streak, within the ultimate.
Skatov, 21, performs his greatest tennis on clay, the place he reached six Challenger semi-finals in 2022: Coquimbo, Lisbon, Braga, Seville, Roseto Degli Abruzzi-2, and Parma. Across 4 tournaments in September and October, the Kazakh received 14 of 16 matches and earned the highest-ranked win of his profession, then-No. 71 Federico Coria, on the Coquimbo Challenger.