Youngest players to win the ATP Finals: Can Carlos Alcaraz or Holger Rune break the record?
Carlos Alcaraz will make his ATP Finals debut in a fortnight and he could be joined by fellow youngster Holger Rune in the line-up.
Both Alcaraz and Rune turned 20 earlier this year and if either of them end up winning the ATP Finals they will be one of the youngest champions, but not quite THE youngest.
Alcaraz is one of five players who have already secured their places in the 2023 ATP Finals draw while Rune is on the cusp of qualification for the Turin event which runs from November 13-19.
Rune turned 20 on April 29 so he will be 20 years, six months and 21 days on the day of the ATP Finals on November 19 while Alcaraz is just a few days younger as he turned 20 on May 5 so he will be 20 years, six months and 14 days.
So where would they slot in on the list of 10 youngest ATP Finals title winners?
If either of them is victorious on November 19, then they would slot in at number four on the list.
The ATP Finals has been going since 1970 as it first started out as the Masters Grand Prix in 1970 before being renamed the ATP Tour World Championships in 1990, then the Tennis Masters Cup in 2000, the ATP World Tour Finals in 2019 before the current name was introduced in 2017.
John McEnroe is currently the youngest player to win the title.
The top 10 youngest ATP Finals title winners:
10. Roger Federer – 22 years, three months and two days
Months after he won his maiden Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, Federer lifted his first ATP Finals titles at the 2003 Tennis Masters Cup edition in Houston, United States, defeating fellow great Andre Agassi 6–3, 6–0, 6–4 in the final.
The Swiss icon would go on to win another five titles and his final one in 2011 helped him to surpass Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras for the outright record of six before Novak Djokovic joined him on that total last year.
9. Ivan Lendl – 21 years, 10 months and six days
Ivan Lendl won the first of his five season-ending titles at the 1981 Masters Grand Prix in New York with a 6–7 (5–7), 2–6, 7–6 (8–6), 6–2, 6–4 win over Vitas Gerulaitis.
The Czech-American finished runner-up the previous year and had he beaten Bjorn Borg in that final then he would have been a lot higher on the list.
8. Alexander Zverev – 21 years, six months and 22 days
Alexander Zverev won the biggest title of his career just months after turning 21 as he stunned Djokovic 6–4, 6–3 in the 2018 final in London.
Many felt the victory would translate into Grand Slam titles, but five years later Zverev is still waiting for his first major, although he did finish runner-up at the 2020 US Open.
7. Novak Djokovic – 21 years, five months and 18 days
A young Novak Djokovic broke his Grand Slam duck at the beginning of 2008 when he won the Australian Open and he also finished the year on a high by lifting his first Tennis Masters Cup title.
Djokovic, of course, has gone on to win another five titles and he could break the record of six this year if he is the last man standing in Turin.
6. Stefanos Tsitsipas -21 years, two months and 30 days
Much like Alexander Zverev the year before, Stefanos Tsitsipas was hoping his 2019 ATP Finals title would set him on his way to Grand Slam success, but he is still waiting for his maiden major.
Tsitsipas defeated Zverev, Daniil Medvedev and Roger Federer en route to lifting the title.
5. Boris Becker- 21 years and eight days
After two runners-up finishes in 1985 and 1986, Boris Becker finally won his maiden end-of-season title at the 1988 Nabisco Masters as he defeated three-time defending champion Lendl.
It was the first of three tiles for the German.
4. Lleyton Hewitt – 20 years, eight months and 16 days
Local hope Lleyton Hewitt gave the home ground plenty of reason to celebrate as he won the first of his two Tennis Masters Cup titles in 2001 in Sydney.
The 20-year-old Hewitt was undefeated during the tournament as he beat Andre Agassi, Pat Rafter, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Sébastien Grosjean (twice) during his title run.
3. Andre Agassi – 20 years, six months and 13 days
Andre Agassi won the season-ending title just once in his career and that was in 1990 as a 20-year-old as he defeated defending champion Stefan Edberg in the final.
Up until then, it was a frustrating year for the American as he finished runner-up at the French Open and US Open while he missed the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
2. Pete Sampras – 20 years and three months
Pete Sampras won the first of his five ATP Tour World Championships in Frankfurt in 1991, just three months after his 20th birthday as he defeated Jim Courier in four sets.
Sampras also won titles in 1992, 1996, 1997 and 1999 to join Lendl on five titles.
1. John McEnroe – 19 years, 10 months and 22 days
John McEnroe was still in his teens when he won the Colgate-Palmolive Masters final in 1978 and it is unlikely that his record will be broken in the next few years. Although you can never say never in sport.
The 19-year-old defeated Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors and Harold Solomon en route to the final before beating Ashe in the final as well.
READ MORE: 2023 ATP Finals: Records that Novak Djokovic could break in Turin
