Fabio Fognini thinks the Next Gen ATP is BS.
You won’t see Fabio Fognini using the hashtag #NextGenATP on his Twitter page. The Italian aired out his surly views on how the ATP is marketing their next generation and, in his opinion, giving rising stars preferential treatment over tried and true veterans of the tour like himself.
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“This Next Gen thing is BS, I didn’t like all the attention that this initiative has attracted.’ Fognini candidly said in Italian after his second-round win over Sweden’s Elias Ymer.
The Italian brought up a curious scheduling call by Roland Garros from earlier in the week to make his point.
“Years ago Rafa was winning Paris at 18, now we have Shapovalov who is 25 in the world, he is improving a lot but he plays the first match on Suzanne Lenglen and the second on Court 1,” he said, referring to the schedule that many on social media had questioned when it came out earlier in the week. “When I see the order of play I am stunned at seeing that Muguruza-Kuznetsova, for example, play somewhere else.”
The Italian, who will face Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund in third-round action on Saturday, feels the ATP should just let the fans decide who they prefer to watch. But the flipside of the equation is this: ATP’s #NextGenATP initiative has done a fantastic job of getting the young players exposure that they may not have been able to get previously.
With the game's greats all approaching their mid-thirties and beyond the tour recognized the need to create a bond between the fans and the players who will take their place.
Fognini doesn't see the need.
“The ATP does many good things, but I don’t agree with this one, I don’t understand this Next Gen thing,” Fognini added. “I don’t agree to all this attention given to these young players. They play well, [Karen] Khachanov, [Andrey] Rublev, [Sascha] Zverev, [Denis] Shapovalov, they all play well, But there is such a frenzy about them, I don’t like it, I don’t agree.”
