Presenting THE ATP CUP! Professional Team Tennis! Finally!
Dates: Fri, Jan 3, 2020 – Sun, Jan 12, 2020
Group A [Brisbane]
- Serbia (Novak Djokovic, Dusan Lajovic)
- France (Gael Monfils, Benoit Paire)
- South Africa (Kevin Anderson, Lloyd Harris)
- Chile (Cristian Garin, Nicolas Jarry)
Group B [Perth]
- Spain (Rafael Nadal, Roberto Bautista Agut)
- Japan (Yoshihito Nishioka, Go Soeda)
- Georgia (Nikoloz Basilashvili, Aleksandre Metreveli)
- Uruguay (Pablo Cuevas, Martin Cuevas)
Group C [Sydney]
- Belgium (David Goffin, Steve Darcis)
- Great Britain (Daniel Evans, Cameron Norrie)
- Bulgaria (Grigor Dimitrov, Dimitar Kuzmanov)
- Moldova (Radu Albot, Alexander Cozbinov)
Group D [Perth]
- Russia (Daniil Medvedev, Karen Khachanov)
- Italy (Fabio Fognini, Stefano Travaglia)
- United States (John Isner, Taylor Fritz)
- Norway (Casper Ruud, Viktor Durasovic)
Group E [Sydney]
- Austria (Dominic Thiem, Dennis Novak)
- Croatia (Borna Coric, Marin Cilic)
- Argentina (Diego Schwartzman, Guido Pella)
- Poland (Hubert Hurkacz, Kamil Majchrzak)
Group F [Brisbane]
- Germany (Alexander Zverev, Jan-Lenard Struff)
- Greece (Stefanos Tsitsipas, Michail Pervolarakis)
- Canada (Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime)
- Australia (Alex de Minaur, Nick Kyrgios)
The New ATP CUP is here to stay!
This new competition called the ATP Cup is the tours new way or starting the season. It takes place over 10 days in anticipation for the Australian Open. This tournament features a whopping 24 countries. (Teams to the left). The Teams are divided into 6 groups of 4 teams.
The matches will take place in 3 Australian cities, Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney. After the group stage, there will be 4 day knockout stage. The quarter finals will be over 2 days then the semi’s and the final. Those will take place at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney. It will be 2 singles matches, best of 3 set match. Then there will be a doubles match with a 3rd set tiebreaker with no Ads if needed.
24 TEAMS, 10 DAYS, 3 CITIES, 1 WINNER
The ATP is staging the ATP Cup in partnership with Tennis Australia, and it marks a return to team competition to the ATP tour for the first time since the World Team Cup, which was held in Dusseldorf, Germany between 1978 to 2012. It’s not just for country pride, either: there’s $15 million in prize money up for grabs, and players can earn up to 750 points in singles and 250 points in doubles.
“I like that it’s owned by the ATP, by the players, and that we have ranking points,” from Serbs own Novak Djokovic. “It’s going to be the best way to kick start the season. Australia is a country that has a Grand Slam and that nurtures tennis tradition. More than 90 percent of the time we’re playing as individuals and we don’t have too many team events, so this will bring together a lot of nations.
Team Spain is the clear Favorite: 1,9,10. Yeah that’s the best rankings each of Spain’s team has achieved in their careers. Their depth, experience, and the fact they have the best player in the world makes them the clear favorite to take the inaugural ATP Cup in Australian. Nadal, Bautista Agut, and Carreno Busta makeup this star studded team for Spain
Team USA could pull off some upsets: What the US lacks in stars they make up for in Arms. With two of the biggest servers in the game, the US could hold and tie break their way to a coupe upsets. Isner leading the way for the Americans, Fritz and Tommy are two youngs guns with some nice fire power.
Team France will be entertaining as always: Yup, you guessed it. With Monfils and Paire being the best trick shot artist in the game, you won’t want to miss any of these matches. And Simon is as reliable as 3rd as they come!
Team Canada has some young raw talent with a bright future ahead: At ages 20 and 19 Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime are both ranked inside the Top 25. These young guns have some big wins under their belt. They should be feeling confident rolling into the ATP Cup!
Team Russia is worth Mentioning: Let’s not forget about 2019’s hottest player Daniil Medvedev who is teaming up with another previous Top 10 Player Karen Khachanov.
men’s team tennis tournament which came after the Davis Cup changed their format six months prior to the announcement. In September 2019, the first 18 countries in the ATP Cup Standings qualified for the ATP Cup, based on the ATP Ranking of its No. 1 singles player on 9 September and their commitment to play the event.
Host country Australia received a wild card. Switzerland was withdrawn as a qualifying country after Roger Federer (yes that means no Fed unfortunately…) withdrew from the event, for personal reasons. The final six teams qualified in November, based on ATP Rankings at 11 November.
Should be an AWESOME tournament and rooting for many more years of this to come!