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After more than two months, the tennis-free time is finally coming to an end.
Although sadly not in the hotspot (tennis courts are still closed in Austria), we can now, at least passively, pursue our affection for the yellow felt ball.
After the arduous trip to Australia with two weeks of quarantine, the tennis stars will be able to fight again for world ranking points and prize money at the ATP Cup starting next Tuesday.
Austria is among the twelve participating nations thanks to Dominic Thiem, who is third in the world ranking. Dennis Novak, Philipp Oswald and Samuel-Tristan Weissborn rounded out the red-white-red team, which competed in one of four groups of three against Italy and France for group victory and associated semi-final promotion.
But what can we expect from this ATP event in Australia, which was presented last year? LAOLA1 has summarized for you the most important hot spots in Melbourne:
Perfect dress rehearsal for the Australian Open
In the previous year, Novak Djokovic not only won the Australian Open final over Dominic Thiem, but also won the ATP Cup premiere with Serbia upfront. In the final there was a 2-1 victory over Spain, which Djokovic secured thanks to a clear victory over rival Rafael Nadal. Austria missed promotion to the knockout stage. However, the ATP Cup seems to be a good test for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. With the exception of the injured Roger Federer, all the major stars are definitely there.
Differences from the previous year
Due to the crown, there are some changes this year: while the premiere was played in three cities (Brisbane, Perth, Sydney), this time all games will be held in Melbourne so that the bubble built for the Open can be taken advantage of. from Australia. here. Instead of 18 nations, this time only twelve countries are participating.
A great tennis nation is missing
Incredible but true: the United States is not represented in the ATP Cup. And not for Corona reasons, but for purely sporting reasons. After all, no American is currently in the top 12 in the men’s world rankings. By the way, the downsizing to twelve nations due to the corona pandemic is no excuse for Team USA: Even with the regulation originally introduced with 18 nations, the Americans would not have qualified. As America’s best player, John Isner is currently only 24th in the ATP rankings.
Two Austrian captains
Of the twelve participating teams, two are served by an Austrian. The fact that Wolfang Thiem was nominated by his son Dominic is not surprising, especially given the absence of Nicolas Massu related to the crown, but that France also competes with a red-white-red supervisor. Richard Ruckelshausen takes care of the French team because Günter Bresnik, the new coach of French number 1 Gael Monfils, did not want to make the arduous journey down.
Fernduell Thiem-Bresnik
After Dominic Thiem and his former coach Günter Bresnik even had to go to court due to financial disputes (an off-court solution is currently in the works), there will be a surprising duel on the ATP Cup field next week. . It was recently announced that Bresnik had become Gael Monfils’ head coach. And depending on fate, Thiem will of course have to deal 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 spicy aftertaste.
Russland as Top-Favorit
The Russian team starts in Melbourne as the absolute top seed. With Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, Russia has two absolute world-class players in singles. Medvedev played big in the ATP Cup last year. After four wins in a row, however, he had to admit defeat to Novak Djokovic with Russia. The winner of Vienna, Rublev, was ranked eighth the previous year and thus for the first time out of 10. The trend of the 23-year-old with an Austrian grandmother continues to rise.
Where can I watch the ATP Cup on television?
Tennis fans can watch ATP Cup matches on both free and pay TV. ServusTV broadcasts all the games from Austria, as well as the final. On Sky you can see all the day and night sessions, as well as all the games with German participation. Additionally, the parallel semi-final matches will be broadcast at a conference on February 5. The broadcast is from 11:30 pm to 2 pm CET. The Austrian games on February 2 and 4 start at midnight.
Text as: © LAOLA1.at
Thiem kicks off the new season with an exhibition against Nadal
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