JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia – Virginia sophomore Rafael Jódar is competing at the 2025 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF Dec. 17-21 at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The field of eight of the top under-20 players in the world includes Jódar, Learner Tien, Alexander Blockx, Dino Prizmic, Martin Landaluce, Nicolai Budkov Kjaer, Nishesh Basavareddy and Justin Engle.
Jódar opened pool play with a five-set win against the tournament's top seed Tien. Jódar saved four match points in his 1-4, 4-3(3), 1-4, 4-2, 4-3(4) victory against the No. 28-ranked player in the world.
“It was a battle,” said Jodar. “I knew the conditions were good for both, but I handled the good moments very well and I’m super happy to get the first win here in Jeddah. I just tried to keep going and believe in myself. Learner always plays well, so I had to keep believing and I knew that I was going to have a chance.”
Tien leaked 23 unforced errors across the second and fourth sets to offer Jodar a route back into their first Lexus ATP Head2Head clash. But the 19-year-old Spaniard will take all the plaudits for the way he fended off the match points — including a drilled backhand down-the-line winner on the fourth.
Jódar dropped his second pool play match 4-1, 4-2, 1-4, 4-2 against Nicolai Budkov Kjaer.
Pool play concludes on Friday (Dec. 19) with Jódar facing fellow Spaniard Martin Landaluce. They play at 11 am ET.
The top two players from each of the two pools advance to the semifinals.
The Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF has a round-robin format, with eight players divided into two groups of four. The players that qualify are determined by the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah. All singles matches are the best-of-five sets, with each set the first to four games (not six games).
The top-seeded player is placed in Group A and the second-seeded player is placed in Group B. Players seeded 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8, are then drawn in pairs with the first drawn placed in Group A. Each player plays the three other players in his group. The winner of each group (best overall record) is placed in separate semi-final brackets, with the top player in Group A playing the runner-up in Group B, and vice versa. If two or more players are tied after the round-robin matches, the ties are broken by a tie-break procedure.
Tournament Schedule
Group stages: Wednesday 17 December – Friday 19 December
Afternoon sessions: Match 1: 6:00 am ET, Match 2: NB 7:00 am ET
Evening sessions: Match 1: 11:00 am ET, Match 2 to follow
Semi-finals: Saturday 20 December
Semi-final 1: 11:00 am ET, Semi-final 2: NB 1:00 pm ET
Final: Sunday 21 December
Final: 12:00 pm ET