December 3, 2024
Jakub Mensik and Shang Juncheng both rocketed up the PIF ATP Rankings this season, rising more than 100 places to finish the year in the Top 50.
The 19-year-olds are already comfortable on the game’s biggest stages, but they are just getting started.
Both nominees for Newcomer of the Year in the 2024 ATP Awards will close their seasons at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF in Jeddah.
Before that showcase event, set to be played from 18-22 December, one of these rising stars will have another honour to his name. ATP Awards winners will be announced during Awards Week, starting Monday, 9 December.
Selected by players, the Newcomer of the Year award goes to the #NextGenATP player who entered the Top 100 for the first time in 2024 and made the biggest impact on the ATP Tour this season.
The month of October saw Mensik hit new heights behind two deep runs in Shanghai and Vienna. At the Rolex Shanghai Masters, he picked up two more Top 10 wins against Rublev and Grigor Dimitrov before taking an opening-set tie-break against Novak Djokovic in the quarters. In Vienna he again reached the quarter-finals, this time winning a first-set tie-break against Alex de Minaur before bowing out.
Those results helped him break into the Top 50 at World No. 48 and also secured his place in Jeddah, accomplishing one of his main goals for the season.
“Before the season, I set the goal to qualify for Jeddah and to play there,” Mensik told ATPTour.com in June. “It would be great to play this kind of event because for us young players it is pretty exciting. It is a good opportunity to see how it works and to taste something from the background of the ATP.”
One of three Chinese players in the Top 100 of the PIF ATP Rankings, Shang made history this year in Chengdu by becoming the first player from the Asian nation to win an ATP Tour title on home soil. He earned a Top 20 win against Lorenzo Musetti in the final, handling the weight of his home fans like a veteran at the hard-court ATP 250.
“It’s really, really special for me, especially to do it at home” Shang said at the time. “Overall I’m just very happy to be here in Chengdu.”
His success there came eight months after a semi-final showing in Hong Kong to open the season and moved him to the brink of the Top 50. Boosted by his maiden title and deep tour-level runs this season in Eastbourne (quarter-finals) and Atlanta (semis), Shang reached a career high of World No. 47 in October — after more home success saw him reach the Rolex Shanghai Masters second round, where he squared off with Alcaraz in an entertaining stadium-court showdown.
All season, Shang has shown a penchant for pulling out wins at the game’s biggest events. He picked up four ATP Masters 1000 victories on the year and posted a 5-3 record at the Grand Slams, reaching the third round at both the Australian Open and the US Open for his joint-best major results.
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