Citi Open Stars Stefanos Tsitsipas, Nick Kyrgios,
Daniil Medvedev & John Isner Set to Headline Inaugural ATP Cup Across Three Australian Cities
At long last, the ATP Cup is here!
Tonight at 7:00 p.m. EST, the new “world cup of tennis” will officially kick off the 2020 season. The highly-anticipated, ATP event features the biggest names in men’s tennis competing in a world team format across three Australian cities (Brisbane, Perth and Sydney) for the first edition of the new ATP Cup.
The format is relatively straight forward. 24 national teams are divided into six groups of four for group stage, round-robin play. The six winners from each group, and the two best second-placed finishers across the groups, emerge to form the Final Eight: a knockout tournament for the cup, held in Sydney from Jan. 9-12.
$15 million and valuable ATP ranking points are up for grabs!
Each match or “tie” consists of two singles and one doubles match. The country winning two matches wins the tie. Every country will be guaranteed to play three ties in round-robin competition. Singles will be best-of-three tie-break sets. Doubles will feature No-Ad scoring and a Match Tie-break in lieu of a third set.
World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas will headline for Greece, which will lead off the inaugural competition tonight at 7:00 p.m. EST in Brisbane against Canada in Group F. The team qualified for the competition because of Tsitsipas' ranking. His father and captain of the team Apostolos Tsitsipas knows that Greece's fate will be significantly aided if the 21-year-old can get off to a good start.
“Stef is going to play an important role to raise the level,” said Apostolos on the eve of the competition. “It is the team spirit that counts at the end, and I think obviously that is an important thing. [The Greek fans] are going to be our extra support all these days...I think it is going to be important to be next to their players.”
Alongside Stefanos will be his younger brother, Petros Tsitsipas, one of two 19-year-olds on the youngest team in the competition.
Greece and Canada join Australia and Germany in Group F (Photo Courtesy ATP CUP)
Reigning Citi Open champ Nick Kyrgios will headline for Australia in Brisbane. Captained by former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt, the Australian squad will take on world No.7 and two-time Citi Open champion Alexander Zverev and Germany’s top stars, captained by former world No. 1 and six-time Grand Slam champ Boris Becker, in the first round of group competition. A 2018 Citi Open Finals rematch is slated as Zverev will face Alex de Minaur in the first tie, looking to defeat the Aussie for the second time in team competition.
“We’re in a tough section, but I’d give the Aussies a strong chance of beating any team,” said Hewitt. “The guys are really excited to be playing in this new competition. It’s a game changer and it would mean so much to all of us to take it out.”
Medvedev and Karen Khachanov reunited for a flight to Perth. They look to g uide Russia past Italy, United States and Norway in Group D.
Elsewhere, crowd favorite and former US Open and Australian Open champion Marat Safin will captain a formidable Russian squad, spearheaded by 2019 Citi Open finalist and world No.5 Daniil Medvedev. World No. 19 Karen Khachanov joins Medvedev to lead the experienced team. Russia will face Italy, Norway and the USA in Group D of round-robin competition in Perth.
“I believe we have the ‘dream team’, and we’ll be the future champions of the ATP Cup,” said Safin. “It will be tough for sure...but our confidence is rocking.”
Photo Courtesy ATP Cup
Three-time Citi Open Finalist, John Isner, is set to lead team United States in the group D bracket. Additional past Citi Open contenders Rajeev Ram, Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz will also take to the courts in Perth under the helm of Isner's coach and DC area resident David McPherson.
Team United States will open the action at 9 p.m. EST tonight with a face-off between Taylor Fritz and Norway's Viktor Durasovic.
Have some quick fun & learn more about the new ATP Cup by playing this
ATP Cup Bracket Challenge Game
Fans stoked for the inaugural ATP Cup (beginning TONIGHT) can get a jumpstart on the excitement through the ATP Cup Bracket Challenge Game!
To commemorate the historic launch, the ATP and FanHub, a global leader of digital gaming platforms, developed a fun to increase fan engagement and awareness of the highly-anticipated 24-country event played in three Australian cities that will kickstart the 2020 ATP Tour season.
Sign Up here to play the ATP Cup Bracket Challenge at ATPTour.com
The 2020 ATP Cup action can be streamed on Tennis Channel!