Prizmic overcomes hurdles for Next Gen debut
Battling injuries and building momentum on clay, the young Croatian clinches his Jeddah ticket, setting the stage for a showdown with rising talents.
Dino Prizmic heads to the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF with a season that tested his limits and revealed his potential. The 20-year-old Croatian turned a year of recovery into qualification, blending tactical smarts with mental toughness on courts that demand both. His path from junior promise to tour contender pulses with the intensity of a tight third set, where every point counts toward the finish line.
Early roots foster versatile foundation
The Croatian began his tennis journey at Tenis Klub Split, the same club that shaped Goran Ivanisevic and Mario Ancic. There, he split time between the sport and football until age 14, when he committed fully and relocated to Zagreb for stiffer competition. This move sharpened his adaptability, allowing him to mix baseline grinding with net rushes against diverse opponents.
By 2023, those early lessons bore fruit with the Roland Garros Boys’ singles title on clay, where his topspin forehands and crosscourt angles dictated play. That same year, he added an ATP Challenger Tour crown, refining deeper returns to counter big serves. His ATP Tour entry at the Australian Open in January 2024 brought a set win over Novak Djokovic, a breakthrough that mixed slice defenses with inside-out strikes to prolong rallies and expose elite pressure.
“I am really excited to qualify for Jeddah,” Prizmic said. “This season was full of ups and downs but I am really happy with how the season has ended. See you in Jeddah.”
Injuries sharpen mental and tactical edge
An injury-filled 2024 sidelined Prizmic at crucial junctures, forcing him to rebuild from doubt and physical strain. Those months transformed setbacks into strength, as he focused on footwork recovery and one–two combinations to end points quicker. Returning in 2025, he channeled this resilience into clay, his preferred surface, where sliding defenses and down-the-line surprises kept opponents off balance.
During the European summer, he claimed two ATP Challenger Tour titles a month apart, first in Zagreb and then Bratislava, both on clay. In those matches, Prizmic targeted backhands with inside-in forehands, varying pace to draw errors and stack race points. The home crowd’s roar in Umag amplified his quarter-final run at the ATP 250 event, where aggressive volleys shortened stalled rallies and built crowd-fueled momentum.
Hard-court surges seal Jeddah qualification
Clay success propelled Prizmic up the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, but he adapted those tactics to harder courts for broader gains. Qualifying for the US Open demanded sharper angles on faster bounces, while his tour-level win in Chengdu featured crosscourt lobs to neutralize power and reset tempo. Each victory under late-season scrutiny honed his ability to thrive in high-stakes moments, turning qualification into a launchpad.
The 2025 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF runs from December 17 to 21 in Jeddah, spotlighting under-20 stars. Past champions Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz raised the bar, and this year’s field already includes Jakub Mensik, Learner Tien, and Alexander Blockx. For Prizmic, the indoor courts offer neutral ground to unleash his evolving game, where tactical pivots and crowd energy could ignite a deeper run among peers.
