Catch the Next Gen ATP Finals live on Sky Sports from November 7-11
Thursday 9 November 2017 00:49, UK
This year's inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals, featuring the best young talent in the men's game, will be revolutionary and designed to appeal to a younger audience.
A new 'Hawk-Eye Live' technology will replace line judges and first-to-four-game sets will be played with matches contested over best of five instead of the usual six.
The end-of-season tournament will also trial the electronic line-calling system, meaning the only match official on court will be the chair umpire.
The technology will be used on all lines throughout each match, triggering an automated 'out' call and as a result, there will be no use of the review system currently used in the sport.
There will be no-ad scoring - if the score reaches deuce, it is next point wins - and there will be no lets played on serve.
In addition, a shot clock will be used to ensure players stick to the 25-seconds-between-points rule. There also will be a shorter warm-up, only one medical time out per match will be sanctioned and players will be allowed to communicate with their coach (via a headset) at certain points in the contest.
The event will be contested by the seven best 21-and-under players of the season, plus one wild card.
Croatian Borna Coric is excited about the prospect of taking part at the tournament in Italy where he will be among the favourites.
"If it was a normal tournament we would probably be thinking we can't wait to finish the year," said Coric, who captured his maiden ATP World Tour title in April in Marrakech. "But this will bring something new to tennis."
One tradition that fans might like to ditch, however, is the often frustrating wait for three games in a corridor behind the court before being allowed to take their seats.
They will be allowed to move freely in and out of the stadium during matches - unless they are seated behind the baseline.
Organisers said the rules had been decided upon following market research with fans - and could be introduced at other levels of the sport if successful.
Similar to the ATP World Tour Finals, the event will be played using a round-robin format with the top two players from each group progressing to the semi-finals.
The Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and season-ending extravaganza ATP Finals at London's O2 ends another memorable year which will be covered via our website www.skysports.com/tennis with live blogs, reports, and expert analysis as the season reaches its climax.
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