The original Next Gen—Zverev, Medvedev, Tsitsipas, Berrettini—soldiers into a key clay swing

“All I hear these few days is Next Gen, Next Gen,” Novak Djokovic said, with a faint—or perhaps not so faint—note of irritation creeping into his voice.

The year was 2017, the place was Rome, and Djokovic was more than a bit weary of fielding questions from Italian journalists about the ATP’s new showcase event for young talent, the Next Gen Finals, which was scheduled to debut in Milan later that year.

In those days, the ATP was working hard to prove that it wouldn’t just shrivel up and die after Djokovic and his fellow Big 3 legends, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, left the stage. The group of players who were tasked with trying to fill their oversize shoes also became known as the Next Gen. Among its leaders were Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, with Matteo Berrettini joining them soon after.

This week, eight years after Djokovic’s comments, the Next Gen could be seen laboring hard to survive their opening matches in Monte Carlo. Medvedev won a close three-setter, and traded a few words with some talkative fans, on Monday. Tsitsipas also won in three sets, and traded a lot of exasperated words his parent-coaches, this afternoon.

But it was Tuesday’s headline match in a packed and sunny center court, between Zverev and Berrettini, that brought those early-2020s vibes rushing back. The two dueled through three back and forth sets, and the points grew long and better as the third set reached it conclusion. To the delight of the many Italian fans in the crowd, Berrettini, playing some of his best tennis in years, got the better of those rallies, and knocked out the top seed, 7-5 in the third set.

The Next Gen, as we know now, never took the Big 3’s baton and ran with it. Part of the problem was that Federer, Nadal and especially Djokovic took so long to hand it off. Rafa was still winning Slams until 2022, and Djokovic won three of four in 2023. By then, a new and improved, two-man Next Gen—Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner—had arrived to steal the baton away and rise straight to the top of the rankings.=

The Big 3 have won 66 major titles; Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas and Berrettini have combined to win one (Medvedev, at the 2021 US Open). The Big 3 spent 947 weeks at No. 1; the four Next Genners have spent 16 weeks there (all by Medvedev in 2022).

When Sinner was suspended from February to May, it looked like the original Next Gen might have an opening at several big events, and a chance to draw closer in the rankings. Instead, this has been an especially sluggish, and even ominous, spring for them.

Medvedev, now 29, has dropped out of the Top 10 for the first time since 2018. He hasn’t made a final in 2025, and his last title came two years ago in Rome. His grinding, attritional style may only get more difficult to pull off as he heads into his 30s.

Tsitsipas, who will turn 27 in August, has a tournament win this year, but he lost early at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami. Another early defeat in Monte Carlo, where he’s the defending champion, would also send him out of the Top 10.

Zverev, who turns 28 in a little more than a week, has reached two major finals in the past 10 months. Yet he looks and sounds more pessimistic about his game than ever. Since his blowout loss to Sinner in the Australian Open final, he hasn’t made a semifinal. After his loss to Berrettini on Tuesday, he walked off in a dispirited daze, which has become his signature look in 2025. Like Tsitsipas, Zverev will want to get it together soon; he’s defending champion’s points in Rome, and finalist’s points at Roland Garros.

Berrettini, who turns 29 this weekend, has been repeatedly slowed by injuries. He’s ranked 34th at the moment, and has contended with the tough draws that come with being unseeded. Let’s see if his stirring win over Zverev has any carry-over effect.

Why didn’t these guys take over the sport, the way Alcaraz and Sinner have? You can point to holes in all of their games: Zverev’s and Medvedev’s passivity at the baseline; Tsitsipas’ and Berrettini’s backhands. Zverev and Medvedev grew up watching Djokovic win with defense, and were left vulnerable to the attacking styles of Sinner and Alcaraz.

But what may have hurt them the most was getting so close, and coming up short, often in painful, haunting fashion.

Zverev is 0-3 in major finals. At the 2020 US Open, he led Dominic Thiem two sets to love, and was two points from victory. At Roland Garros in 2024, he led Alcaraz two sets to one.

Medvedev is 1-5 in major finals. Twice he squandered two-set leads, to Nadal and Sinner, at the Australian Open.

Tsitsipas is 0-2 in major finals. At Roland Garros in 2021, he led Djokovic two sets to love.

Berrettini is 0-1 in major finals. He led Djokovic by a set in the 2021 Wimbledon final, before losing three straight.

By contrast, Alcaraz and Sinner are 7-0 in Slam finals.

Many of the Next Gen’s final-round defeats came at the hands of Nadal and Djokovic. You might say the Big 3 made it impossible for their successors to have the confidence to fill their shoes.

Still, the end isn’t nigh for any of the four, and every week there’s another chance in tennis. We’ll see what they do with this one.