China's youngest and oldest champions both clinched titles, NextGen draw revealed, will Djokovic fall out of the top five next year?

Three minutes daily to keep up with global tennis news. Hello tennis fans, today is Monday, December 15, 2025. Welcome to the midday news update from "Tennis Home."

Let's start with two pieces of good news. Last night Beijing time, in the renowned U18 girls' singles final at the US Orange Bowl, 15-year-old Chinese talent Sun Xinran played superbly, beating Russian rival Liutova 6-4, 6-1 to win her career’s highest-level junior singles championship. This marks the first time a Chinese player has won the Orange Bowl U18 singles title. Congratulations to Sun Xinran!

The US Orange Bowl is regarded as the fifth Grand Slam for juniors. Players who perform well in this event often go on to have successful professional careers, with a high rate of talent development. For example, China's current top female player Zheng Qinwen was once a runner-up at the Orange Bowl. Therefore, young Sun Xinran's future looks promising, ensuring a strong next generation for Chinese women's tennis.

Meanwhile, at the WTA125 Limoges doubles final, the top-seeded cross-national duo of China’s Zhang Shuai and Spain’s Bucsa displayed dominant form, sweeping the strong French pair Jacquemot and Ponsé 6-3, 6-1 to take the title. With this doubles championship, Zhang Shuai concludes her 2025 season on a high note and can finally take a well-deserved rest!

Moving on to other news. Early this morning Beijing time, the group draw for the 2025 ATP NextGen Finals was held, and the draw is now official. The Blue Group features top seed Leandro Riedi, fourth seed Landaluce, fifth seed Budkov-Shel, and seventh seed Hodar; the Red Group includes second seed Brooks, third seed Peliwo, sixth seed Basavareddy, and eighth seed Engel. Both groups will play round-robin matches, with the top two from each group advancing to the semifinals, followed by knockout rounds to determine the champion. The tournament will take place from December 17 to 21 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Next, let's look at news from international sources. Recently, foreign media analyzed and predicted the year-end top 10 for 2026, releasing a projected list of the top ten players. On this ranking, this year’s year-end world number one and two, Alcaraz and Sinner, swapped places, with Sinner reclaiming the top spot and Alcaraz dropping to second. The third position remains with Germany’s Zverev, while Serbia’s tennis king Djokovic, who finished fourth this year, has fallen out of the top five to eighth place, replaced by this year’s ninth-ranked American player Shelton.

Other predicted year-end top ten players remain mostly consistent with this year’s list, with some ranking shifts. This year’s world number five, Auger-Aliassime, drops one spot to sixth; world number six, Fritz, rises one place to fifth; number seven, De Minaur, stays the same; number eight, Musetti, falls two positions to tenth; and number ten, Draper, moves up one rank to ninth. Do you agree with this foreign media prediction? Which player do you think could break into the year-end top 10 in 2026? Feel free to share your thoughts.

Finally, let’s play a guessing game. The following photo shows a player vacationing in Hong Kong. Without any hints, can you identify who she is?

Last time’s guess was answered correctly by fans. Yes, the person in the photo is Czech star Siniakova.

(Source: Tennis Home Author: Lone Wolf)