ITF Class of 2025: Luka Mikrut
The ITF’s ‘Class of…’ series recognises players who have had a successful year on the ITF World Tennis Tour. It identifies the most promising breakthrough talents and those predicted to go on to bigger things.
This year’s group was decided by a panel of experts. Ashley Keber (WTA), Julia Boyadjieva (ATP), Mark Woodforde (ITF), Mary Pierce (ITF) and Nao Kawatei (ITF) voted on a shortlist of 19 players.
Next up is Luka Mikrut of Croatia who won four ITF World Tennis Tour titles and went on to claim his first two ATP Challenger titles.
Croatia's Luka Mikrut has made remarkable forward strides in 2025.
The 21-year-old Split native has excelled this season - winning four consecutive ITF World Tennis Tour titles before going on to claim the first two ATP Challenger titles of his career.
A good, though hardly prolific junior who peaked at No. 40 in the world, his tale has been one of steady progress, repeatedly showing up, and learning his craft at the lower and middle levels of men's professional tennis.
"The ITF World Tennis Tour helped me a lot all these years, especially this year," Mikrut acknowledged.
"At the end of last year I was struggling with confidence and winning matches. I decided in March to take a step back from Challengers and go to the World Tennis Tour to play more matches and get more wins. To get my confidence back."
That decision certainly proved fruitful.
Mikrut wasted little time - winning his first title of the season at M15 Antalya in March without dropping a set.
From there, he launched an untouchable run on the World Tennis Tour - picking up three more consecutive titles without losing a single set at M15 Opatija, M25 Antalya and M15 Dubrovnik.
By the end of April, he'd won four straight ITF World Tennis Tour titles, 20 straight matches, and 40 consecutive sets.
"It helped me a lot," Mikrut admitted of that spell. "The players there are very strong, and way better than they were a few years back, the tournaments are way stronger now than they were before."
"I think [the World Tennis Tour provides] a great opportunity for juniors to start playing senior tennis and to play with older guys with lots of different play styles."
Mikrut dabbled in Challenger events throughout that time and he would go on to produce the best week of his career so far in August, winning his first Challenger title at Como 75.
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In October, he won another ATP Challenger, defeating Vilius Gaubas in the final at Braga 75, propelling him to a new career-high No. 159 in the ATP rankings, a leap of over 200 spots from his position at the turn of the year.
"I think winning those matches on the ITF World Tennis Tour helped me a lot later in the year to put in that work and get those wins at Challengers," he reflected. "Later I had a great year at the Challengers as well."
Mikrut's coach echoed his charge's view - that the decision to focus on match-play, restoring his confidence, was a key factor in his ultimate success this year.
"We decided that we’re going to step back a little bit and play on the World Tennis Tour where the level is also high but maybe it was a bit easier for him," he said.
"The goal was to try to get as many matches as he can – to win some matches and tournaments. He played four tournaments in a row and he won all of them."
"He really felt confident at that point to come back to play at a higher level."
There were technical improvements too.
"He was changing some things at the beginning of the year, especially his serve which turned out to be a very good decision," he continued.
He was also keen to echo Mikrut's views on the how the World Tennis Tour benefits young players as they seek to build a game that can compete at the higher levels.
"It’s very good advice to young players, to juniors, to try to play on the World Tennis Tour and develop in that way."
Luka Mikrut is currently ranked at No. 162 and although yet to compete at Grand Slam level, he will be right in the mix for qualifying in 2026.
The big stage beckons.