Catch every match at the Fiera Milan, live on Sky Sports from 7-11 November
Tuesday 7 November 2017 12:54, UK
It's almost time for the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, so we've asked Leif Shiras to run the rule on a few of the star names.
Russians Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov and Daniil Medvedev join Canadian Denis Shapovalov, American Jared Donaldson, Croatian Borna Coric and South Korean Hyeon Chung in qualifying for the innovative eight-player tournament, to be held 7-11 November at the Fiera Milan.
The final spot will be awarded to the winner of an Italian qualifying event, consisting of the best 21-and-under Italian player, Gianluigi Quinzi.
We've asked Sky Sports analyst Shiras for his thoughts on a few of the players who will look to make their name in the fashion capital of Italy.
I think Shapovalov is the most dynamic, most exciting player, and his performances at this year's US Open showed that he can go to enormous heights.
I don't think I've ever seen a guy become an overnight sensation. This year he won his first couple of Challengers and then goes on to beat Rafael Nadal in Montreal. He backed that up at the US Open, but this guy has got some real talent and is fun to watch.
He has made a few mistakes in the past when he hit the umpire in his eye with the ball during Canada's Davis Cup defeat to Great Britain but listen, this guy is box office. The sky's the limit for Shapovalov.
This guy is the one who came through from the group of youngsters at the US Open where he reached the quarter-finals. Yet, he played some great tennis along the way, beating David Goffin and Grigor Dimitrov, although he was a little overwhelmed by the time he got to Rafael Nadal.
But Rublev sent out a clear signal that he is one of the guys now and you can put him in that list with Alexander Zverev and Shapovalov.
Coric is versed with a lot of talent, but he does not have one particular weapon that's over-whelming. He's a package of plays who needs to put a lot of sequences together. He's also a great athlete, but watching him practice and training, I can see that he's trying to add a little more firepower to his game.
He's hitting the forehand harder, trying to serve a little bit better, and all these things may develop but I just think the other guys have bigger and better weapons. That may ultimately tell the story.
He's another player who is coming to understand his game and the things he needs to do. I think he has made huge strides this year.
I can remember seeing him in the fall where he was overplaying a little bit, hitting the ball too hard, going for too much. And then I picked him up again in the summer and he was suddenly getting involved in the points. He didn't have the urge to pull the trigger all the time, so he's also growing his awareness about what he has to do to win a match.
He's tall, athletic, he's got that great Russian tradition behind him and now he has contemporaries with Rublev and Medvedev to circulate himself around. Together, they're going to do great things.
He went out to Argentina and was actually learning the game on the red clay. He lived out there for a number of years as a young teenager and learned to develop his understanding of the game.
He seems to have a couple of extra layers of how to play, and also the physical skills required. I think we saw at the US Open how much potential he has.
Sky Sports will have all the action from the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan from 7-11 November.
The season-ending extravaganza ATP Finals at London's O2 in November ends another memorable year which will be covered via our website sky.mnosports.com/tennis with live blogs and updates as the season reaches its climax.
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