Tennis Betting Advice - December 2025
Next Gen ATP Finals: One to Watch at 12/1...
Monday 15th December 2025
The draw has been made for this week’s Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. And with this the one part of the year that’s quiet for tennis, the bookies have gone up unusually early with their tournament Outright Winner markets…
Play starts on Wednesday, from 11am UK time – live on Sky Sports.
The tournament is played indoors on hard courts. And they play special rules (with ‘innovations’). Read more on the official Next Gen ATP Finals site here:
As expected, the outright prices for the 2025 event don’t throw up any whoppers. This is only an eight-man field. The event is split into two groups of four for a round-robin phase, followed by the top two from each group going through to the semi-finals.
Last year’s runner-up Learner Tien is the clear front-runner. After the withdrawal of Jakub Mensik, Tien is by far the highest-ranked young man here (no.28). All the other seven names on the list are ranked outside of the top 100.
The lowly rankings aren’t so much of an issue, as this is an event designed for newcomers/ rising stars; the Next Gen ATP Finals is only open to players age 20 or under.
With Tien in the ‘Blue Group,’ he does on paper look a very strong contender here. The bookies think so too, though – making the 20-year-old American left-hander the out-in-front favourite, at just 11/10 (2.1) to take the trophy.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Learner goes one better than last year and wins it this time. But Tien was 16/1 here last time. This week’s prices are too short for me. Remember, injury or illness can strike at any time – and we’ve already had one withdrawal before a ball is hit.
The Groups:
JUSTIN ENGEL replaces Mensik in the draw, and is placed in the ‘Red Group.’ And in doing so, the 18-year-old world no.187 becomes both the youngest and lowest-ranked name in this year’s Next Gen ATP Finals field…
I’m not too worried about that though, as teenagers on the up can push through and make the leap forward in terms of performance and achievement, at any time…
Indeed, Engel ended the regular season with a career-best burst of form on the lower tier of the ATP Tour circuit. Posting two semi-finals and one final (won) from his last six events on the calendar. They were all played on indoor hard courts, making that run as good a preparation in terms of playing surface and form/ momentum as anyone arriving here in Jeddah this week. Confidence counts for a lot. And from what I’ve seen, this kid has it.
As I mentioned, the prices are pretty bunched-up here, bar Tien at the top of the betting. With the bookies betting Win Only in general, and therefore, no Each Way half-the-odds part for us to shoot at. We’ll keep stakes low and simple with a straight-up, 1-point on-the-nose bet on Justin Engel to spring a surprise as the last name into the line-up.
The Next Gen ATP Finals Outright market on Oddschecker this afternoon:
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Ones to Watch picks:
See above for full details
Next Gen ATP Finals
Outright Winner – Win Only:
Play starts on Wednesday, 11am UK time.
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P.S
I’m working on your Ones to Watch in 2026 report – look out for it hitting your inbox next Monday, 22nd December. Just in time for some pre-season, Christmas-holiday reading…
Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Oliver Upstone