The first edition of the ATP Cup will kick off on Friday 3 January with three exciting matches. Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas will face Canada’s Shapovalov in the day session of the Group F at the Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane, before local favourite Alex De Minaur takes on 2018 ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev in the night session. Last September’s US Open finalist Daniil Medvedev will play against 2019 Monte-Carlo champion Fabio Fognini.
The round robin Group F including Canada, Greece, Germany and Australia promises to be among the highlights of the round robin stage of the ATP Cup, as it features plenty of young stars like Alexander Zverev, Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger Aliassime, Alex De Minaur and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas will face Shapovalov for the fourth time in their careers. This match will be the opening tie at Pat Rafter Arena. Shapovalov beat Tsitsipas in two of their three head-to-head matches at the 2018 Australian Open and at the 2019 Miami Open. Tsitsipas scored his only win against his Canadian rival in Monte-Carlo 2018. Tsitsipas is looking to start the new season on a high note after winning the biggest title of his career at the ATP Finals in London. Shapovalov enjoyed the biggest season of his career in 2019 winning his maiden ATP title in Stockholm and reaching his first Masters 1000 final in Paris Bercy.
Jan-Lennard Struff will face Nick Kyrgios in the opening match of the tie between Germany and Australia in Brisbane. In the second match Alexander Zverev will fight against Alex Minaur in a blockbuster. Zverev carries a 4-0 lead in their previous four head-to-head matches (three times in 2018 in the Davis Cup, in the Washington final and in Shanghai Round of 16 and once in 2019 in the Acapulco quarter final).
De Minaur and Zverev met for the first time in a Davis Cup tie in February 2018. De Minaur, who was making his debut in the Davis Cup, pushed Zverev, but lost in a fifth-set tie-break.
“There is a couple years’ more experience. I have had a couple good years on Tour, and I am very happy with where I am right now. I know it’s going to be an incredibly tough match, but I am looking forward to it. I think I have put in a lot of hard work through the pre-season and I feel ready for a new year. I had probably about a week and a half of holidays, and then we came over here to Oz and started the pre-season. It was a real big focus because we had such an unbelievable year last year, so we wanted to make sure to be in the best possible position to try and come out and do it all again, especially knowing that coming up here, my first three matches are against such high-level opponents, so I have got to be ready ”, said De Minaur.
De Minaur has enjoyed his breakthrough season in 2019 winning three titles in Sydney, Atlanta and Zhuhai and reaching two finals in Basel and at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. He ended the 2019 season with a career-high ranking of world number 18.
“Back then he was an up and coming young guy, and now he is ranked top 20 in the world. It’s different, but we played a lot of good matches with Alex. I think that the Davis Cup match here was the best one that we played. I mean, 7-6 in the fifth set we played over four hours. It’s not easy against him because he is not somebody that will give you a lot, and I will know exactly where I stand after that match. It’s all about building and getting better and stronger. Keep putting those hard yards in the gym and every single ounce of muscle I can put on is greatly appreciated ”, said De Minaur.
De Minaur said that he has been inspired by Stefanos Tsitsipas. Both players will meet on 7 January when Australia faces Greece.
“Tsitsipas is a year older than me and has been doing crazy things. Now it’s my turn to hopefully step up in my own journey and be able to knock off as many goals as I can. The way I have been able to finish the year, it’s given me a lot of confidence and I know where I want to be and now it’s all about just keeping that level and trying to contend for more titles and hopefully higher level titles”, said De Minaur.
Last June’s Roland Garros champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies will face John Peers and Chris Guccione in the doubles match. Peers won the 2017 Australian Open doubles match with Henri Kontinen.
The match between Daniil Medvedev and Fabio Fognini will highlight the tie between Russia and Italy at the RAC Arena in Perth. Karen Khachanov will face Stefano Travaglia in the opening match.
Italy won five of the six previous ties played by these two teams in the Davis Cup, but Russia starts with top 20 players and carries a favourite role.
Medvedev will face Fognini for the fourth consecutive year and leads 2-1 in their previous three head-to-head matches. Fognini won their first clash in Cincinnati in 2017, but his Russian rival prevailed twice in Sydney semifinal in 2018 and in Shanghai Masters 1000 quarter final last October.
Medvedev led the ATP Tour in 2019 with 59 overall wins and reached nine finals. He achieved a career-high number 4 last September after reaching the US Open Final. He qualified for six consecutive finals after Wimbledon and won four titles in Sofia, Cincinnati, St. Petersburg and Shanghai.
“I believe we have the dream team, and we will be the future champions of the ATP Cup. We will be the future champions of the ATP Cup. I am really happy, I am proud to be part of a great team. Everyone is a great guy, which is very important. The first tie is always tough, the first match in the arena. Italians are always tough to play against. They are grinders and it will be important to take a good first step. It will be tough, but our confidence is rocking. We have been here a few days and we are ready to play. Russia is into tennis with Danil and Karen doing right now. We want to move ice hockey from top spot and make Russians proud”, said Russian team captain Marat Safin.
Norway will face the USA in the opening tie at RAC Arena in Perth. John Isner will face Casper Ruud for the second time. Isner beat Ruud in straight sets at Wimbledon last year.
The Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney will host the tie between Belgium and Moldova. David Goffin will face Radu Albot for the fourth time in their careers. The Belgian player won all their previous three matches in Sofia 2017, Gstaad 2017 and Halle 2019 in three sets. In the same Sydney Group Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov will face Great Britain’s Daniel Evans in their fourth head-to-head match.
The ten-day ATP Cup Tournament will welcome 24 teams, each consisting of five players. Every team will play the other three teams in their respective round robin group in a best of-three match tie (two singles matches followed by a doubles match). The singles matches are best-of-three-sets, while the doubles matches will have a match tie-breaker, if they split the first two sets. The six teams that finish first in their groups, as well as the two best second-place finishers advance to the knock-out stage.
