The Australian summer will be like no other due to the COVID-19 pandemic but one advantage is that a series of intriguing duets are starting to form on the men’s Tour.
Players will be travelling to Australia during the middle of January where they will undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine period. During that time they are limited as to where they can go and are prohibited from taking part in professional tournaments. However, they will be allowed to initially train with one other player of their choice.
One of the first to emerge was Rafael Nadal’s decision to team up with Italian rising star Jannik Sinner, who is the youngest ATP champion in 12 years. Nadal defeated the 19-year-old in the quarter-finals of the French Open in October.
“I believe that for Sinner, being able to live the preparation for a Grand Slam with someone who has won twenty, is a fundamental experience,” coach Riccardo Piatti told SuperTennis about the collaboration on Friday.
After the duo have trained together for a week, they will then be allowed to expand their bubble by including one additional player each. According to Piatti, the two players joining team Nadal will be Diego Schwartzman and Stan Wawrinka.
Elsewhere, Sudpresse have confirmed that Belgium’s David Goffin will be pairing up with Grigor Dimitrov down under. The two have played against each other 10 times on the Tour with Dimitrov winning eight of those meetings. They will then extend their circle to include Kyle Edmund and Karen Khachanov for week two.
Andrey Rublev will be part of a bubble the features three top 10 players during week two. According to Marca, the Russian is set to start off with Alexander Zverev before then joining forces with Dominic Thiem and his week one partner Denis Novak. Rublev, who is currently training in Barcelona, won five ATP titles this season which is more than any other player.
Other notable training partnerships that have been confirmed include world No.1 Novak Djokovic and Filip Krajinovic but there are conflicting reporters as to who they will join up with in week two. Meanwhile, Matteo Berrettini starts with Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The Australian Open will start on February 8th. Prior to the Grand Slam, there will be a series of international events taking place and then two ATP Tournaments in Melbourne with one of those being the ATP Cup.
