Five Challenger Players To Watch In 2024

Banja Luka Open

The ATP Challenger Tour is an opportunity for fans to witness players in an intimate setting before they rise to the biggest stages of the sport. So which stars should you keep your eyes on this season? ATPTour.com lists five ATP Challenger Tour players to watch in 2024.

Dino Prizmic
The 18-year-old Dino Prizmic became the youngest Croatian Challenger champion since Borna Coric in 2014 this past August when he triumphed at the Banja Luka Open. Prizmic, who also won the 2023 Roland Garros boys’ singles title, became the first player to win a Grand Slam junior crown and a Challenger title in the same season since Wu Yibing in 2017.

After starting the season at No. 475 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Prizmic rose 320 spots to hit a career-high No. 155 in October. Another standout season could earn Prizmic his maiden qualification at the 21-and-under Next Gen ATP Finals.

“I want to play with the best players on the ATP Tour and so for me, this is just the beginning,” Prizmic told ATPTour.com in August.

Jakub Mensik
Who was the youngest ATP Challenger Tour champion in 2023? The 17-year-old Jakub Mensik, who in May lifted the title in Prague despite competing in just his sixth Challenger outing.

Mensik edged former World No. 4 Tomas Berdych by two months to become the youngest Czech Challenger champion in history and also joined elite company as one of four 17-year-old Challenger titlists in the past five years: Jannik Sinner (2019), Carlos Alcaraz (2020), Shang Juncheng (2022).

Mensik, the 2022 Australian Open boys’ singles finalist, hit a career-high No. 147 in November.

Mariano Navone
Argentine Mariano Navone was unstoppable during the 2023 ATP Challenger Tour season. From 19 June to 12 November, the 22-year-old competed in six Challenger finals, triumphing in five of them: Poznan, Santa Fe, Santa Cruz, Buenos Aires and Santa Fe-2.

“In May of last year I was losing in the first round of an M15 and [now] I have won five Challengers,” Navone said in October. “At that moment it was difficult but to that kid I would tell him to be calm, that good things are going to come.”

Navone finished the year by winning 14 of his final 15 matches, climbing to a career-high No. 120 in November. He was one of seven players to collect at least 40 Challenger-level match wins in 2023.

Zachary Svajda
This past season marked the third straight year an American aged 20-and-under won three Challenger titles. After Jenson Brooksby and Ben Shelton completed the feat in 2021 and 2022, respectively, 2023 was Zachary Svajda's turn to add his name to the record books. 

The California native captured a trio of titles on home soil (Cary, Tiburon, Fairfield) to climb to a career-high No. 139 in October, just a year removed from his maiden crown at that level. The two-time USTA Boys’ 18s National Championships winner relied on greater consistency and maturity to reach new heights in 2023.

“I feel like last year I would do well, have a good tournament and then the next couple weeks I would be tired or not fully there mentally,” Svajda explained to commentator Mike Cation after winning in Faifield. “I just feel more mature right now, stronger, and mentally better.”

Terence Atmane
The 2023 Asian swing held memories that the 21-year-old Terence Atmane will not soon forget. The Frenchman won Challenger trophies in Zhangjiagang and Guangzhou and during each title run, Atmane rallied from the brink of defeat.

In Zhangjiagang, he fended off six match points in the opening round en route to his first Challenger triumph. Two weeks later, the lefty saved three championship points and overcame cramps in a three-hour battle to defeat Australian Marc Polmans in the Guangzhou final.

Atmane then collected his maiden ATP Tour main-draw victory at the Masters 1000 event in Shanghai, where he advanced through qualifying.