Medjedovic has enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2023
Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic became the sixth winner of the Next Gen ATP Finals after a five-set win over France’s Arthur Fils.
The 20-year-old world number 111 recovered from letting two match points slip in the fourth set before winning 3-4(6-8) 4-1 4-2 3-4(9-11) 4-1.
The tournament is the season-ending event for the top-ranked male players aged 21 and under.
The event has a best-of-five format with four games winning a set.
Former champions include current top 10 players Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
This season, Medjedovic reached tour-level semi-finals in Gstaad and Astana and won three ATP Challenger Tour events.
He is the lowest-ranked champion in tournament history but converted his third match point to get past his 19-year-old opponent, ranked 36 in the world.
“I can’t believe I have won this title but it’s going to give me a lot of confidence for 2024,” he said.
“Arthur is an amazing player – he’s top 40 for a reason – so I’m really happy.
“It was tough after the first set. I changed my clothes and recovered and started to play good again. I didn’t play good when I had match points in the fourth set. I wasn’t relaxed, I was very stiff.
“Thank God I recovered and I was just trying to stay relaxed as much as I could and I managed to do it in the end.”
Medjedovic received messages of support during the week from compatriot Novak Djokovic, who clinched a record seventh ATP Finals title in Turin last month.
“Two of us from Serbia. He won the big Masters, the real one, and I won the Next Gen. Obviously, it’s a huge thing and I’m happy to follow in his footsteps in some way,” he added.