Youngest winner since Alcaraz: Engel wins his ATP debut

Justin Engel celebrated his 17th birthday on October 1, 2024.
IMAGO/rabbit head

Accompanied by great hopes for the future, tennis talent Justin Engel won his debut on the ATP tour. The Nuremberg resident, who has only been 17 for around two weeks, won the first round in Almaty, Kazakhstan, 7:5, 6:4 against Coleman Wong from Hong Kong. Engel is currently ranked 458th in the world, making him the highest-ranked player under the age of 18.

Against the 133rd in the world rankings, the German showed strong nerves in the decisive phase of the two sets. After a little more than an hour and a half, he turned into his second match point when the opponent served.

Engel will face world number 31 in the round of 16

“It’s unbelievable. Winning an ATP match at 17 is the best feeling I can imagine. I have no words,” said Engel, who became the youngest match winner on the tour since Carlos Alcaraz in 2020. Alcaraz was only 16 years old at the time.

In the round of 16 of the $1,117,465 tournament, the angel, who got into the main field with a wild card, will now face the number four seeded Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo, who is ranked 31st in the world, 427 places ahead of the German.

Angel: “I’m a fighter type”

Engel wants to go far and takes the big stars as role models. “I admire Rafael Nadal, the way he presents himself on the court, the way he pushes himself, the way he fights,” said the right-hander in a recent DTB interview: “I can identify with that. I’m also the type of fighter on the pitch and do everything I can to win.

However, he could learn something from Novak Djokovic, the Grand Slam record winner, when it comes to nutrition. And: “I would like to train with Djokovic to see what the pace is like and what it is like to play points against him.”

Engel had already won four International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior tournaments this year. He also caused a stir at the end of September by reaching the quarterfinals at the ATP Challenger tournament in Villena, Spain. There he beats, among others, Luca Van Assche (France), the current number 119 in the world.