Champion Tsitsipas ‘confused’ by Next Gen ATP Final rules

Milan, Italy: Stefanos Tsitsipas capped a rollercoaster season by winning the Next Gen ATP Final on Saturday but the rising Greek star conceded he was slightly bemused by the rules of the tournament.

The 20-year-old from Athens came through 2-4, 4-1, 4-3 (7/3), 4-3 (7/3) on his third match point against 19-year-old Australian Alex de Minaur after one hour and 41 minutes to win his second career title after Stockholm last month.

"To be honest with you, I'm confused myself. I don't really know what I liked and what I didn't like," said the Tsitsipas.

The round-robin tournament for players aged under 21 years has a shorter format than other tournaments, playing sets of first to four games, with tie breaks at 3-3.

It is designed to increase the number of pivotal moments in a match, while playing best-of-five sets does not alter the number of games required to win a match (12) from the traditional three-set scoring format.

"The games are very stressful. Obviously there's no advantage so you need to be twice more concentrated," said Tsitsipas, who has jumped from 91st at the start of the season to world number 15.

"But, I love those rules because I won."

Players can communicate with their coaches through headsets, with line calls using the Hawk-Eye Live system, backed up by a video review system.