ATP Cup: Argentina opens the 2022 tour season in Sydney … at toast time

Many times, due to calendar reasons, tennis players spend the end of the year parties away from home. The tour that leads to the Australian Open, due to several factors (pandemic, adaptation, training) encourages several players to travel to Oceania at this time of year. What is not so usual is to play on January 1, the date on which the ATP Cup will begin, the tournament of nations for teams that the men’s circuit created a couple of seasons ago to challenge the Davis Cup.

In the case of Argentina, the New Year’s premiere will be almost literally: the team from our country will open the series against Georgia, for the first date of Group D, on the morning of January 1 at Qudos Bank Arena, in Sydney. Due to the time difference (the Australian city is 14 hours ahead), the first game will be played from 20 December 31 in our country, and at that time Federico Delbonis He will face Aleksandre Metreveli, 571st in the world ranking; next, Diego Schwartzman It will be measured with Nikoloz Basilashvili (22nd), the main card of the Georgian team, and then the doubles will be played, with Andrés Molteni and Máximo González on the Albiceleste side. Thus, Argentine tennis players could be in full swing in Sydney while in our country the cups are raised to say goodbye to 2021 and welcome to 2022.

Of course: in the Argentine team, whose captain is Alejandro Fabbri (one of Schwartzman’s coaches), uncertainty remains, after it was learned that Federico Coria from Rosario tested positive for Covid upon arrival in Sydney. The number 63 of the world ranking did not show symptoms, but his test returned positive after arriving in the charter arranged by Tennis Australia (the tennis federation of that country), which left Ezeiza on December 27 and made a stopover in Santiago de Chile . Coria will be tested on Friday to see if he can join the team that will play the ATP Cup; otherwise, he will be replaced by Facundo Bagnis.

Eleven days ago, Coria had attended the wedding party of the Argentine tennis player Andrea Collarini, in Córdoba, which led to several positive cases, including the bride and groom and Juan Ignacio Londero from Córdoba. The other player who was at the party and who is part of the ATP Cup team is the doubles player Andrés Molteni, 46th in the world in the specialty, from whom news is expected regarding the result of his testing.

Argentina is part of Group D along with Georgia, Greece (with Stefanos Tsitsipas as the main player) and Poland (with Hubert Hurkacz as a figure). “It’s nice to start the year playing the ATP Cup, in a team tournament, representing Argentina. I think we all want to be here and play for our country, Schwartzman stressed.

“Playing for your country is different. It will be a good challenge, because the best teams in the world qualify to play here every year, and I think it is the best preparation for all of us who play the Australian Open. I really like Sydney, I had several good games here, ”added the 29-year-old Peque.

The Argentine team has a newcomer: Federico Delbonis, who is participating for the first time in the ATP Cup. “In recent years I haven’t had the opportunity to play here and I always enjoy playing as a team. Now, doing it again is a great challenge, and I want to perform my best, and try to help, “said the southpaw who gave Argentina the Davis Cup in Zagreb in 2016.

After the meeting with Georgia, Argentina will face Greece on the second date, on Monday, January 3 from 3:30 in our country (17:30 in Sydney), and then against Poland, on the night of Tuesday 4 (from 8 o’clock).