After more than two months, the tennis-less time is finally coming to an end.
Although unfortunately not in the active area – the tennis halls are still closed in Austria – we can now at least passively pursue our affection for the yellow felt ball.
After the arduous journey to Australia with a two-week quarantine, the tennis stars will be able to fight again for world ranking points and prize money at the ATP Cup from next Tuesday.
Austria is among the twelve participating nations thanks to Dominic Thiem, who is third in the world rankings. Dennis Novak, Philipp Oswald and Samuel-Tristan Weissborn completed the red-white-red team, which competed in one of four groups of three against Italy and France for the group win and the associated semi-final promotion.
But what can we expect from this ATP event down under, which was only introduced last year? LAOLA1 has summarized the most important hot spots from Melbourne for you:
Perfect dress rehearsal for the Australian Open
Last year, Novak Djokovic not only won the final at the Australian Open over Dominic Thiem, but also won the ATP Cup premiere with Serbia in advance. In the final there was a 2-1 win over Spain, which Djokovic ensured thanks to a clear victory over rival Rafael Nadal. Austria missed the promotion to the knockout phase. Nevertheless, the ATP Cup seems to be a good test run for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. With the exception of the injured Roger Federer, all the top stars are definitely there.
The differences from the previous year
Due to the corona, there are some changes this year: While the premiere was played in three cities (Brisbane, Perth, Sydney), this time all games will take place in Melbourne so that the bubble built up for the Australian Open can be used here. Instead of 18 nations, this time only twelve countries are involved.
A great tennis nation is missing
Incredible but true: the USA is not represented at the ATP Cup. And not for Corona reasons, but for purely sporting reasons. After all, no American is currently in the top 12 of the men’s world rankings. The reduction to twelve nations because of the corona pandemic is not an excuse for the US team: Even with the originally introduced 18-nation rule, the Americans would not have qualified. As the best US player, John Isner is currently only in 24th place in the ATP ranking.
Two Austrian captains
Of the twelve participating teams, two are looked after by an Austrian. The fact that Wolfang Thiem was nominated by his son Dominic is not surprising, especially due to the corona-related absence of Nicolas Massu, but that France is also competing with a red-white-red supervisor. Richard Ruckelshausen looks after the French team because Günter Bresnik – the new coach of the French number 1 Gael Monfils – did not want to make the arduous journey down under.
Fernduell Thiem-Bresnik
After Dominic Thiem and his former coach Günter Bresnik even had to go to court due to financial disputes (an out-of-court solution is currently being worked on), there will be a surprising duel on the pitch at the ATP Cup next week. It was only recently announced that Bresnik had become Gael Monfils’ head coach. And as fate would have it, Thiem will of course have to do with the 34-year-old crowd favorite in the duel against France on Thursday. Even if it will have no effect on the legal dispute, the upcoming Thiem-Monfils match now naturally has a piquant aftertaste.
Russland as Top-Favorit
The Russian team starts in Melbourne as the absolute top favorite. With Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, Russia has two absolute world-class players in singles. Medvedev played big at the ATP Cup last year. After four wins in a row, however, he had to admit defeat to Novak Djokovic with Russia. Vienna winner Rublev was ranked 8th last year and thus for the first time in the top 10. The tendency of the 23-year-old, who has an Austrian grandmother, is still increasing.
Where can I see the ATP Cup on TV?
Tennis fans can watch the matches at the ATP Cup both on free TV and on pay TV. ServusTV broadcasts all games from Austria as well as the final. On Sky you can see all day and night sessions as well as all games with German participation. In addition, the parallel semi-final duels will be broadcast in a conference on February 5th. The broadcast is from 11:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. CET. The Austrian games on February 2nd and 4th start at midnight.
Text which: © LAOLA1.at
Thiem starts the new season with an exhibition against Nadal
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