Twenty-year-old Serbian sixth seed Hamad Medjedovic was crowned the Next Gen ATP Finals champion with a captivating victory over Arthur Fils in Sunday's final.
Emulating the feats of his compatriot Novak Djokovic in November's ATP Finals, Medjedovic brought home another trophy to Serbia with a 3–4[6], 4–1, 4–2, 3–4 [9], 4–1 victory in just after two hours.
Medjedovic's success caps off a stellar breakthrough year for the 2003-born protege, who reached the first round of Wimbledon and the French Open for the first time in 2023 and came close to breaking into the top 100, getting as high as world number 102 in October.
"I can't believe I have won this title, but it's going to give me a lot of confidence for 2024. Arthur is an amazing player; he's Top 40 for a reason, so I'm really happy," Medjedovic said on the court.
"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."
2023 ATP Finals Champion: Novak Djokovic 🇷🇸
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) December 2, 2023
2023 Next Gen ATP Finals Champion: Hamad Medjedovic 🇷🇸
Learning from the best 👀 pic.twitter.com/ie284rcZ3M
Making a name for himself throughout the tournament with his blistering serves, the Serbian fired 19 aces past Fils throughout the contest and won 88% of points behind his first serve in total.
Medjedovic also kept his mistakes to a minimum, only producing nine unforced errors and 32 winners, as well as saving all four break points he faced against his French foe.
The 20-year-old recovered from a couple of early unforced errors in the fourth-set tie-breaker to bring up two match points, although he failed to take either of them as Fils took the contest to the distance.
However, an inopportune unforced error from Fils on break point allowed Medjedovic to establish an early two-game lead in the fifth set, and the Serbian quintessentially confirmed his champion status with an ace on match point.
Alongside his Next Gen supremacy, Medjedovic also took home three Challenger level titles in the 2023 season, as well as getting to the semi-finals of the Astana Open and Swiss Open on the ATP Tour.
