Nicolai Budkov Kjaer: ATP Ranking, Stats & Next Gen Profile
Norwegian teenager following in Ruud's footsteps.
Nicolai Budkov Kjaer: Key Stats at a Glance
- Current ATP Ranking
- No. 130
- Career-High Ranking
- No. 110 (2025)
- Age
- 20 (born February 24, 2006)
- Height
- —
- Weight
- —
- Nationality
- 🇳🇴 NOR
- Birthplace
- —
- Turned Pro
- —
- Plays
- —
- 2026 Win-Loss
- —
- Career Titles
- —
- Career Prize Money
- —
- Next Gen Race Position
- Not eligible
- Next Gen Finals Appearances
- 1 (2025)
Next Gen Results
Career Trajectory
ATP Ranking over time · NG Finals marked with dotted lines
Nicolai Budkov Kjaer: Next Gen ATP Finals Record
Nicolai Budkov Kjaer has appeared at the Next Gen ATP Finals once, in 2025. Across those editions Kjaer played 3 best-of-five short-set matches, winning 1 and losing 2 for a 33% match-win rate, and his best finish at the 21-and-under year-end event was group stage.
2025 — Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: Kjaer entered as the 7th seed and was drawn in Group A. He finished the week 1-2 in matches and exited as a group stage, collecting $70,000 in prize money. Along the way he beat Engel. The title that year went to Learner Tien, who beat Alexander Blockx in the final. Others in the 2025 field included Learner Tien, Alexander Blockx, Martin Landaluce, Nishesh Basavareddy and Rafael Jodar.
Measured against the full alumni field, Kjaer sits 45th of 49 qualifiers by career-high ranking. 14 of those 49 players have reached the ATP top 10 at some point in their careers, which is the clearest measure of how reliably the Next Gen ATP Finals identifies future tour leaders. Kjaer has not yet joined that group, with his career-high of No. 110 leaving him outside it.
The event uses a shortened best-of-five format with sets to four games, which is why match records here look different from regular tour results. Full winners are listed on the champions page.
Career Highlights
- Reached a career-high ATP ranking of World No. 110 on 2025-05-12.
- Group Stage at the Next Gen ATP Finals — his best result at the tournament, achieved in 2025.
Where Is Nicolai Budkov Kjaer Now?
Nicolai Budkov Kjaer is currently ranked World No. 130, 20 places below his career-high of No. 110. He is 20 years old and still competing on the ATP Tour.
Nicolai Budkov Kjaer represents the next wave of Norwegian tennis. His Next Gen debut was a learning experience that should fuel further development.
The ranking trail we track for Kjaer starts at No. 117 in 2024, the season around his first Next Gen qualification, and peaks at No. 101 in 2025. The most recent point in that history has him at No. 121, a net drop of 4 places from that starting point. Ranking movement at this level is driven mostly by results at Masters 1000 and Grand Slam level, where the points on offer dwarf anything available on the Challenger Tour.
At 20, Kjaer is still inside the 20-and-under age window for the 2026 Next Gen ATP Finals in Italy, so every result this season feeds directly into the Next Gen race standings. Qualification is decided by ranking points earned during the calendar year among eligible players, which means a single deep run at a Masters 1000 event can move him several places in the race.
Compare his trajectory with every other qualifier in the alumni tracker or track the current standings on the 2026 Next Gen race page.