Blockx Nets His Ticket to Tennis’ Next Gen Finals in Jeddah

Blockx’s Qualification and Background

Alexander Blockx has qualified for the Next Gen Finals, the ATP Tour's marquee year-end event for players aged 20 and under, to be staged in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The 20-year-old Belgian will become the first from his country to take part, joining a field of the sport's brightest rising stars.

Blockx was born to Ukrainian parents who were both athletes—father Oleg in hurdles and mother Natalia in swimming—yet he focused exclusively on tennis.

Despite that athletic mix, Blockx has never pursued another sport.

Under the guidance of Philippe Casier since he was four, Blockx has grown steadily, and their collaboration peaked in 2023 when he became the world No. 1 junior in both singles and doubles.

Highlights of 2025 include a strong start in Portugal with a title at the Oeiras Challenger, a run to the final in Winnipeg, and another Challenger crown in Bratislava.

He earned a place in the Masters 1000 in Miami and recorded his first Masters win in Cincinnati, defeating Marcos Giron, then secured another Challenger victory in Metz.

At the start of 2025 he sat outside the top 200 in the ATP rankings and has since climbed steadily to a career-best No. 101 in November.

The Next Gen Finals run December 17–21 and feature this year’s qualifiers such as Jakub Mensík and Lerner Tin.

Joao Fonseca, the defending champion, withdrew from the 2025 edition as he continues to recover from an injury sustained late in the season.

The Next Gen Finals is an annual ATP event for the season’s best performers aged 20 and under.

It began in 2017 at PalaLido in Milan, and after four editions there, the show moved to Jeddah, where it has been staged since 2023.

Punchline: If Blockx keeps climbing, the rankings might come with a warning label for dizziness. Punchline 2: If his serve gets any bigger, even the scoreboard might file for a martini break."