They are among the brightest young stars on the ATP: Ben Shelton, Chun-Hsin Tseng, Jack Draper, Jiri Lehecka and Holger Rune. And all five are nominees for the Newcomer of the Year in the 2022 ATP Awards, to be announced later this month.
Selected by players, the award goes to the #NextGenATP player who entered the Top 100 for the first time in 2022 and made the biggest impact on the ATP Tour this season.
Ben Shelton, 20
From NCAA college tennis to the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Tour, Shelton made his mark at every level in 2022.
The American clinched the prestigious NCAA singles title in U.S. college tennis in May, representing the University of Florida. That achievement kick-started a meteoric rise for Shelton, who subsequently earned a 35-8 record in Challenger events either side of upsetting Lorenzo Sonego and Casper Ruud to reach the third round of the Western & Southern Open.
That run in Cincinnati prompted Shelton’s decision to turn professional prior to the US Open in August, and the 20-year-old has barely stopped winning since. He made four Challenger finals in six tournaments to round out his year, and in November became the youngest player in Challenger history to lift three trophies in as many weeks. Having started 2022 at No. 573 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Shelton ended it a career-high No. 97.
“It’s definitely gone quick,” said Shelton after finishing his season with 15 straight wins. “I’m going to take this offseason and slow down a bit, enjoy myself, and also focus on some things I can improve.”
Chun-Hsin Tseng, 21
Perseverance paid off for Tseng in 2022.
After plenty of hard graft and toil in his bid to make his mark at the top level, the 21-year-old enjoyed a breakthrough season this year. A series of strong performances on the ATP Challenger Tour combined with the first three ATP Tour match wins of his young career propelled Tseng more than 100 spots to a year-end No. 86 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.
“For me it was an incredible journey because when I was around 280 or 300, I was stuck there for two or three years,” Tseng recently told ATPTour.com. “For me it was tough, but suddenly [this year] I became Top 100. I was very surprised because at that moment I didn’t really expect that I would go that fast.”
Tseng reached three ATP Challenger Tour finals between February and April and came away with the trophy in Bengaluru and Murcia before notching his maiden ATP Tour…
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