With the Masters in Paris over, and a week before the Masters Cup in London begins, the world of men’s tennis has a must-see in Milan. Many may not have heard yet, but this is an absolutely historic week for the racket world, as a tournament is being launched in the aforementioned Italian city that is going to break with everything established in terms of rules in the old and traditional world of tennis, and to say this while talking about one of the sports modalities most resistant to change is saying a lot: The ATP Next Gen Finals.
Starting this Tuesday, November 7, the Fiera Milano welcomes the 8 best rackets of 2017 under 21 years of age. The prize is succulent: $1,275,000, and it seeks not only the promotion of these players called to succeed the generation of Federer, Nadal and company, but also innovation, experiments and, above all, the show. The Next Gen ATP Finals will be loaded with new rules, some of them unpublished until now, which test many of the prejudices that for decades have made tennis evolve a lot in terms of technology regarding materials, rackets, clothing, accessories or surfaces, but very little in terms of regulations.
At Sportium we address all the information about the tournament, which will concentrate a lot of talent on the track. But we also ask ourselves: how do all these groundbreaking rules affect sports betting?
The new rules
Short format: The sets are played to 4 games instead of 6, and the matches go from three to five sets. If the sixth game of a set is reached with 3 of a kind, there is a Tie-Break. Much more dynamism, speed and madness are sought in the different stakes, trying to ensure that the sets do not become long, tedious and calculated by the tennis players.
No advantages: Probably one of the most controversial measures. It is already being put into practice in tournaments of younger categories. In the games, the receiver will choose whether to eliminate the advantage, so that if it reaches 30-40 (or vice versa) in a game, the receiver will automatically have two break balls… or the server will have two balls to win the game.
No Line Judges: Live Hawkeye Debut: A new electronic system that will control all lines instantly during matches makes its debut at the Next Gen ATP Finals. In this way, the chair umpire will be the only human element in charge of imparting justice within a track, by the way, without double lines, in the aesthetic style of some old tournaments from the 90s. Through the Live Hawkeye it will be known at the moment when a ball will be out without the need for it to be called by a linesman, trying to improve the optical precision of the human being. This feature eliminates the ‘Challenge’ system used by players to clear up doubts on decisive balls, since when this type of play occurs, the video sequence will be repeated as many times as necessary until the play is clarified.
Without ‘Let’ in the serves: Touching the tape of the net to the service will not be considered a fault, but will be allowed as it happens when the point is already in play. Another measure to try to promote speed in the game and also make the serves something even more unpredictable, favoring emotion. Obviously, the tennis players will no longer be able to stop the game and call the chair umpire to clarify this type of situation.
Game Clock: A clock will be installed and used on the court to accurately respect the 25 regulatory seconds that cannot be exceeded when taking the kick between points. This watch will also count the exact rest time between sets and medical times.
Shorter warm-up: The preparation time before the game is reduced.
Medical timeouts: Only one medical stoppage per player is allowed during the match.
Coaching: The player will be able to communicate with his coach during the match, specifically at the end of the set. However, the coaches will not be able to enter the track.
Public: Free movement of fans will be allowed during the match. Something also controversial, since the players have always been tremendously rigorous regarding situations that can distract them during the game.
And how does this affect the bets?
We cannot fail to list the 8 players under the age of 21 who have reached this final stage in Milan to play the Next Gen ATP Finals: Andrey Rublev (Russia, ATP number 37), Denis Shapovalov (Canada, ATP number 51 ), Hyeon Chung (South Korea, no. 54 ATP), Gianluigi Quinzi (guest tennis player, Italy, no. 306 ATP), Karen Khachanov (Russia, no. 45 ATP), Borna Coric (Croatia, no. 48 ATP), Jared Donaldson ( United States, No. 55 ATP), and Daniil Medvedev (Russia, No. 65 ATP). Notably absent is the German Alexander Zverev, a great young sensation in world tennis and number 3 in the world, who will be at the Masters Cup in London and, obviously, will rest this week to prepare for that event.
For sports betting, the Next Gen ATP Finals also poses a challenge when it comes to predicting how the new rules may affect matches. We are talking about clashes in which a much faster and more direct game will be favoured, and much shorter matches. This considerably eliminates the options in markets such as number of total games, but strongly favors higher odds and more direct bets, such as betting on a correct score in a set, playing for in-play breaks or tightening handicaps too much. . Likewise, this type of format greatly favors tennis players who serve and play powerful and direct, which is always a clue when choosing who to bet on. In any case, we will leave doubts as of this Tuesday in an unavoidable appointment for tennis lovers.