Overview
- Engel was added after short-notice withdrawals by Jakub Mensik and defending champion João Fonseca.
- His group features Alexander Blockx, Dino Prizmic and Nishesh Basavareddy, with tournament favorite Learner Tien possible only from the semifinals.
- The Next Gen event uses shortened best-of-five sets to four games with tiebreaks at 3–3, no-ad points and permitted headset coaching during changeovers.
- Engel’s breakout year included an ATP win over Jan-Lennard Struff, a Stuttgart quarterfinal, a Davis Cup singles win in Japan as the youngest German since Boris Becker and a first Challenger title in Hamburg.
- He is ranked No. 187, set for Australian Open qualifying in January, now working with coach Ulf Fischer after splitting with Philipp Kohlschreiber, as national figures praised his progress and urged patience.