The Next Gen series is a new eight man tennis competition which aims to determine the best young tennis player in the world. The tournament has gotten off to a rocky start though after their draw ceremony has been attacked for its sexist process.
The draw was to determine two groups of four, with the top two going through to a semi-final and subsequently the final. It is made up of the world's top 7 under 21 players and one Italian wildcard.
In order to determine which group the players would go into, they took turns picking on-stage models. The player would then walk down a catwalk with the model who would reveal a 'A' or 'B.'
The ATP NextGen Milan draw ceremony made players select models to determine their groups. Stunningly uncomfortable, cringeworthy and trashy. pic.twitter.com/g63OfK5IOK
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) November 5, 2017
The models pulled back an article of clothing to reveal the group, with one having the letter on her upper thigh and Hyeon Chung forced to use his teeth to take a glove off a models hand and discover his group.
As you might imagine, the draw has provoked a strong reaction online:
Awful. https://t.co/ECMf0tA7WC
— judy murray (@JudyMurray) November 6, 2017
Disgrace... https://t.co/5FnC45wUx7
— AmelieMauresmo (@AmeMauresmo) November 6, 2017
So let's just say this wasn't a typical draw. It involved choosing models to find out which group they landed in pic.twitter.com/90TdE5bSBx
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) November 5, 2017
@ATPWorldTour wrote the group letters on women's bodies and had them strip to reveal what groups the players were in. I'm speechless.
— el ✨🌸🌱 (@tenetztowinne) November 5, 2017
The tournament kicks off on Tuesday, with the final on Saturday and it had been hoped the tournament would be an exhibition for what was to come in tennis's future.
