Twelve teams will fight for the second edition of the ATP Cup from 1 to 5 February 2021 one week before the start of the Australian Open.
The draw will be held on 20th January, when the 12 teams will be divided into four round robin groups of three teams. The four group winners will advance to the semifinal stage.
Qualification for the 2021 ATP Cup is based on the ATP Ranking of each country’s top-ranked singles players. Fourteen of the top fifteen players in the current ATP Ranking are set to take part in this year’s ATP Cup.
Multiple Grand Slam champions Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, reigning US Open champion Dominic Thiem and the winners of the past three editions of the ATP Finals (Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Danil Medvedev) will lead a star-studded field as the top two seeds. Serbia beat Spain 2-1 in the final last year claiming the inaugural edition of the ATP Cup. Last year’s final included a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) win for Djokovic over Nadal in the singles match. Djokovic won all his six singles matches and two doubles matches to lead Serbia to the title.
The Serbian team will also feature former Paris Bercy Filip Krajinovic, 2019 Monte-Carlo finalist Dusan Lajovic and Nicola Cacic.
Nadal will team up with former top ten player and 2019 Davis Cup champion Roberto Bautista Agut, 2020 US Open semifinalist Pablo Carreno Busta and doubles specialist Marcel Granollers.
All three 2020 Grand Slam champions will play at the second edition of the ATP Cup. Last year’s US Open champion and two-time Roland Garros finalist Dominic Thiem will be the stand-out name in the Austrian team featuring Dennis Novak, Philipp Oswald and Tristan-Samuel Weissborn.
Two top ten players Danil Medvedev (reigning ATP Finals champion and Paris Bercy winner and Andrey Rublev (winner of five ATP titles in Doha, Adelaide, Hamburg, St. Petersburg and Vienna in 2020) will lead a strong Russian team, which also feature Aslan Karatsev and Evgeny Donskoy.
Australia quaifies by virtue of a host wild card. Alex De Minaur scored two top 15 wins against Denis Shapovalov and Alexander Zverev in singles matches at the 2020 ATP Cup to help Team Australia reach the ATP Cup semifinals.
Last season’s Roland Garros semifinalist and Rome Masters 1000 finalist Diego Schwartzman is the top name in a strong Argentine team also featuring Guido Pella, Horacio Zeballos and Maximo Gonzales.
Italy also carries hopes to qualify for the semifinals with a strong team that includes 2019 Monte-Carlo champion Fabio Fognini, last year’s US Open semifinalist Matteo Berrettini, former Australian Open doubles champion Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori.
The other favourite teams for a spot in the semifinal are Canada with Denis Shapovalov (semifinalist at the Rome Masters 1000 in 2020) and Milos Raonic (finalist at the 2020 Western and Southern Open in New York) and Germany with last year’s US Open finalist Alexander Zverev, two-time Roland Garros doubles champion Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies and Jan-Lennard Struff.
Stefanos Tsitsipas will team up with his brother Petros Tsitsipas, Michail Pervolarakis and Markos Kalovelonis. Former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori, Yoshihito Nishioka, Ben McLachlan and Toshihide Matsui will form the Japanese team.
“Playing as a team, for one’s team, is a rare privilege in tennis which brings the best out of our players. This was highlighted by the incredible matches and cameradiere on display at last year’s inaugural edition of the ATP Cup. We would like to thank our partners, Tennis Australia, for their dedication and commitment to stage this year’s tournament, which promises to deliver a strong team to the 2021 season. We cannot wait for tennis fans around the world to again share in the excitement and energy of this special evnt”, said ATP Cup Managing Director Ross Hutchins.
“Last year we launched the global tennis season with the inaugural ATP Cup. It was a huge success with both players and fans, and we are excited to present the second edition in Melbourne in 2021. The players are looking forward to stepping up and representing their teams again, and the field, including defending champions Serbia and finalists Spain, is strong. This format shows off the passion of the players and we are expecting some spectacular tennis action”, said ATP CUP Tournament Director Tom Larner.