Espaa, finalist of the first edition of the ATP Cup, where it yielded to Novak Djokovic’s Serbia, is presented as the great favorite to achieve the title in the tournament by passes that will be held in Melbourne from February 1 to 5 as a prelude to the Australian Open.
The Spanish team, As MARCA has learned, to be trained by Rafael Nadal, Roberto Bautista, Pablo Carreo and Marcel Granollers. The first three are automatically within the formation by ranking, Nadal and Bautista are the first two tennis players of the ‘Armada’ in the individual lists of the ATP, and Granollers, the best doubles player.
In the case of Carreo, he is officially the reserve, but he will have the opportunity to play both singles and doubles since such a compressed competition will give everyone opportunities.. It should be remembered that the format is four groups of three teams and the one that ends up leader of each one goes to the semifinals. In case the organization accepts the presence of a fifth component, it would be Albert Ramos.
The cut to unsubscribe expired on December 28 and that is why it was that day chosen by Roger Federer to officially announce his absence from the antipodes tour that concludes with the Australian Open (February 8 to 21). Switzerland, by Federer’s ranking, was in and now has been without participating for the second consecutive season. And it is that Roger, already convalescing from a first knee arthroscopy, flew directly to the Aussie Open in 2020 without playing any preparatory tournament.
Tennis Australia has designed an à la carte ATP Cup so that the main figures are there and do not prefer to sign up for one of the two Open 250 that will also be held in Melbourne. Up front, there is more money (7.5 million dollars), plus points (500) and the possibility of having the weekend before the ‘Grand Slam’ free. That is why the format has been compressed to barely five days.
The highest bag of points in a match can be achieved with a win against a ‘top10’ in the final, which awards 220. And the lowest reward is 15 points in the group stage against an opponent beyond 250th place..
Unlike last year, the 12 participating countries have to present official clothing, which in the case of Spain will be the same as they use when they play the Davis Cup, that is, the tennis players are obliged to take to the court with a red shirt and pants. White.
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