Justin Engel caused a sensation in tennis among adults as a 16-year-old. Now Germany’s greatest hope for the future is playing in his first ATP tournament – and won his first game.
If Coleman Wong, number 133 in the tennis world rankings, wanted to collect information about his first opponent at the ATP tournament in Almaty (Kazakhstan), he should not have gone via the men’s association’s official website. Because apart from its age and origin, nothing can be found there. Height, weight, style of play, coach – all fields are empty or the answer is: “unknown”. There is also no indication whether the backhand is one-handed or two-handed.
But that changed relatively quickly on Monday. Because the young man is Justin Engel, the greatest German talent of that time. And in his first appearance at the ATP tournament, he beat Wong 7:5 and 6:4.
Against Wong, the German showed strong nerves in the decisive phase of the two sets. After 1:35 hours he converted his second match point. “Winning an ATP match at 17 is the best feeling I can imagine”said Engel, who became the youngest match winner on the tour since Carlos Alcaraz in 2020.
Engel is the best at his age
Engel celebrated his 17th birthday on October 1st, and 13 days later he is now giving himself the gift that he has been working towards for years.
Engel has already won four ITF tournaments this year. He recently reached the quarterfinals at the ATP Challenger in Villena (Spain), where he stunned with a win against Luca van Assche (France), 121st in the tennis world rankings.
Engel will start in Almaty as number 458 in the world, his previous top ranking was 516. He is by far the best player under the age of 18, there are only 17 teenagers who are better placed than the young German. The path to a great career seems paved.
Nadal as a role model, Struff as Training partner
“I wanted to get used to the men’s level step by step and see how far I could go. Then I won my first tournament and since then everything has felt much easier for me.”said Engel recently in an interview with the German Tennis Federation (DTB) about his rapid rise. He wants himself now “exclusively on the professional tour” concentrate, maybe he will play in 2025 “one or two more youth Grand Slam tournaments”.
Engel is now playing with the big names in the tennis world; the top players in Germany have had him on their list for a long time. He has already trained with Jan-Lennard Struff as well as Philipp Kohlschreiber and Maximilian Marterer. His role model is Rafael Nadal, who ended his career a few days ago. “I’m also a fighter on the pitch and do everything I can to win.”said Angel.
“I’m much further along than most people my age”
The now 17-year-old played his first tournaments at the age of ten. “That’s when my ambition came up and I always wanted to win”he said. “I just want to concentrate on tennis. That might sound a bit arrogant, but I know that I’m much further along than most people my age. I have a plan and a goal for my life.”
Engel wants at the end of 2025 “at best be in the top 200”. Given his rapid rise in recent months, this is almost a modest target.
