The 7 youngest ATP Tour title winners: Where would Joao Fonseca rank if he wins Buenos Aires trophy?

One 16-year-old, one 17-year-old and five 18-year-olds feature on the list of seven youngest ATP singles title winners.

Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca is one win away from joining a list of young players to win an ATP Tour title before turning 19.

Aged 18 years, five months and 26 days on the day of the final, Fonseca will become the seventh youngest player to win a singles trophy since the inception of the ATP Tour in 1990 if he beats Francisco Cerundolo in the Argentina capital.

But for now, the great Pete Sampras sits in seventh place while in terms of the Open Era record, Aaron Krickstein’s holds the record as he was 16 years and two months when he won in Tel Aviv in 1983 while Michael Chang was 16 years and seven months when he lifted the San Francisco trophy in 1988.

The 7 youngest ATP Tour title winners:

7. Pete Sampras – 18 years, 6 months, 7 days – Philadelphia 1990

All-time great Pete Sampras lifted his maiden ATP Tour trophy only two years after he turned professional as he won the US Pro Indoor title.

The 18-year-old, who was seeded 13th for the American event, defeated compatriot Andre Agassi in the third round, fifth seed Tim Mayotte in the last eight and Australian qualifier Mark Kratzmann in the semi-final before getting the better of seventh seed Andres Gomez 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, 6-2 in the final.

“Of all the young Americans, even the likes of Agassi and [Michael] Chang, I’d have to say he is the best one because his all-round game is so strong,” Gomez said of the teenager.

And he was proven to be right as Sampras went on to win 14 Grand Slam titles.

6. Michael Chang – 18 years, 5 months, 1 day – Canada Masters 1990

Chang remains the youngest man to win a Grand Slam as he was 17 years, 3 months and 7 days when he won the French Open in 1989.

But that was just before the launch of the ATP Tour (or ATP World Tour as it was known as back then) in 1990 and Chang won four titles before 1990.

So the Canada Masters title is his first trophy in the ATP Tour era and he defeated top seed Andre Agassi 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the quarter-final and fifth seed Sampras 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 in the last four getting the better of fourth seed Jay Berger 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 loss in the final.

5. Carlos Alcaraz – 18 years, 2 months, 20 days – Umag 2021

Carlos Alcaraz could go on to break several all-time tennis records as he is already on 17 ATP Tour titles before turning 22.

The first of those 17 came in 2021 in a match of experience against youth as the teenager beat 35-year-old Richard Gasquet in the final of the Croatia Open.

“It’s amazing. I have a lot of emotions. I’m really, really happy with this victory, this win, my first ATP [title],” the Spaniard said. “I’m going to enjoy this moment a lot.”

The following year he won the US Open and also became the youngest world No 1 – all before turning 20.

4. Rafael Nadal – 18 years, 2 months, 6 days – Sopot 2004

Just a couple of months after turning 18, Nadal was already a special player as he was seeded sixth for the clay-court event in Poland.

The Future 22-time Grand Slam winner Nadal defeated Franco Squillari from Argentina and Spain’s Felix Mantilla en route to the final and then beat the unseeded Jose Acasuso 6-3, 6-4 to lift his maiden title.

He went on another 91 ATP Tour singles titles before calling it a day in 2024.

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3. Kei Nishikori – 18 years, 1 month, 13 days – Delray Beach 2008

Japanese great Nishikori kicked off the Delray Beach event at No 244 in the ATP Rankings and beat fifth seed Florian Mayer in the first round and third seed Sam Querrey in the semi-final.

He then overcame top seed James Blake 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the final and stated: “I still can’t believe it that I beat James Blake. I’ve only seen him on TV. This is my best tournament ever.”

He surged to No 122 in the rankings after his title run.

2. Andrei Medvedev – 17 years, 9 months, 15 days – Genoa 1992

Andrei Medvedev became the youngest-ever player to win an ATP World Tour title in 1992 when he beat Argentinian Guillermo Perez Roldan 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Italian event two years after the launch of the Tour.

The young Ukrainian didn’t face any seeded players during his run to the final with Roldan also unseeded for the event.

Medvedev went on to win 11 ATP singles titles and he lifted eight of those trophies before he turned 20 while he also finished runner-up at the 1999 French Open.

1. Lleyton Hewitt – 16 years, 10 months, 9 days – Adelaide 1998

Future world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt was still in school when he took part in the Adelaide event in 1998.

Sitting at No 550 in the rankings, he got the better of Mark Woodforde, Vince Spadea and the great Andre Agassi during his incredible run to the final.

He faced fellow Australian Jason Stoltenberg in the final and won 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) to replace Medvedev as the youngest ATP Tour title winner.

“I was still planning on going to school as much as possible in Year 12, our final year of high school in Australia, but that January, just before school re-started in February, I got the Adelaide wild card. So I’d pretty much decided when I held up the trophy, that I wasn’t going back to school,” he recalled on the ATP Tour’s official website 20 years after his historic title.

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