ITF World Tennis Tour Class of 2023: Dino Prizmic
The ITF’s ‘Class of…’ series recognises and celebrates players who have had a successful year on the ITF World Tennis Tour, identifying the year’s most promising and breakthrough talents, and those predicted to go on to bigger and better things next year.
This year’s final five was decided by a panel of experts: Ashley Keber (WTA), James Marsalek (ATP), Mark Woodforde (ITF), Mary Pierce (ITF) and Nao Kawatei (ITF), following a vote from a shortlist of 18 players.
Next up, it’s a Croatian player who entered the 2023 season on a hot-streak on the ITF World Tennis Tour, and used that platform to begin his ATP breakthrough.
Dino Prizmic’s rise through the professional ranks truly kicked into gear just over 12 months ago.
At the end of the 2022 season, the 18-year-old Croat went on a run on the ITF World Tennis Tour that put him in a position to surge up the ATP rankings in 2023.
Prizmic won four titles in his last five ITF tournaments of 2022, embarking on a 15-match winning streak that December to end the year inside the world’s Top 500.
That form has proved the springboard for all that has followed since.
Twelve months on, he finds himself knocking at the door of the ATP Top 150 and with a maiden ATP Challenger title, an ATP quarter-final, and a fifth ITF singles title under his belt.
He also ticked off a long-sought item from his wish-list in June, dipping down into junior competition one last time to win the boys’ singles title at Roland Garros.
Some might have questioned the decision to play juniors again while boasting an ATP ranking inside the Top 300. For Prizmic, it was a barometer of his progress as much as a milestone achievement.
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“It showed me how much I improved compared to the junior players I played against just a year ago,” said Prizmic, who could bury memories of his difficult defeat to Gabriel Debru in the semi-finals the previous year.
Having returned to claim the trophy, he became only the second Croatian player to win a Roland Garros junior crown after Marin Cilic won in Paris in 2005.
Whether he could go on to achieve half the career of Cilic - the 2014 US Open champion, a Davis Cup champion with his country and Australian Open runner-up in 2018 - remains to be seen, but Prizmic is certainly shaping up for a climb towards the summit of the sport.
“[ITF World Tennis Tour] tournaments in general are a good transition from the juniors to the professional tennis tour because I got to experience and adjust to the speed and level of professional tennis"
That all started with the ITF World Tennis Tour, which has played a pivotal role in preparing him for the challenges to come, affording him both experience and high-level match-play on the global stage.
“Playing the ITF Tour had a great impact on my game,” Prizmic said.
“[ITF World Tennis Tour] tournaments in general are a good transition from the juniors to the professional tennis tour because I got to experience and adjust to the speed and level of professional tennis. They also showed me that even though I am much younger than most of those guys, I can play evenly with them.”
That confidence carried him to his first ATP Challenger title in Banja Luka in early August, just a week after his 18th birthday.
“I’m sure the experience and knowledge I picked up in ITF tournaments had a lot to do with that,” reflected Prizmic.
He has since gone on to collect his first two victories over Top 100 players – beating Czechs Tomas Machac, the then-world No. 81, and No. 30 Jiri Lehecka in his penultimate tournament of the year at the ATP event in Stockholm in October.
Prizmic, who took his first forays in the sport in Split before moving to Zagreb to further his tennis development, idolises Novak Djokovic, and mirrors the Serb with his clean-living approach to the sport.
He only eats natural foods, and has long had a physique - and engine - beyond his tender years.
You get the sense he’ll leave no stone unturned to be the very best he can be.
Prizmic joins Canada's Marina Stakusic, Portugal's Henrique Rocha, and Alina Korneeva in the ITF Class of 2023. Stay tuned for the final player to be announced on Friday.