MEDIA NOTES ATP Cup ATP Tour Tennis TV On-Site PR ATPCup.com ATPTour.com TennisTV.com Richard Evans: [email protected] @ATPCup @ATPTour @TennisTV Harriet Rendle: [email protected] ATP CUP TALKING POINTS - SATURDAY 11 JANUARY 2020 • Host Australia meets Spain after Serbia takes on Russia in the inaugural ATP Cup semi-finals on Saturday. • Sydney native Alex de Minaur saved eight match points in Australia’s quarter-final win over Great Britain. The 2019 Sydney International champion hit winners on four match points before falling to Daniel Evans in singles. He returned in doubles and saved four more alongside Nick Kyrgios to clinch the tie 18-16 in a match tiebreak. • De Minaur is scheduled to face Rafael Nadal for the third time. The 20-year-old Aussie suffered identical 6-1 6-2 6-4 losses to Nadal in the third round at 2018 Wimbledon and the 2019 Australian Open. De Minaur bids to become the youngest player to defeat Nadal while he is World No. 1 since Kyrgios, 19, at 2014 Wimbledon. • Nadal, who fell to David Goffin on Friday, has not suffered consecutive losses since October 2016. The left- handed Spaniard lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the 2016 Beijing quarter-finals and Viktor Troicki in his opener at 2016 Shanghai five days later. Nadal has never suffered back-to-back losses in 206 weeks as the World No. 1. • Kyrgios and World No. 10 Roberto Bautista Agut are undefeated at the ATP Cup entering their match-up. Kyrgios is 3-0 in singles and 1-0 in doubles, while Bautista Agut has swept four matches and eight sets in singles. The 29th-ranked Kyrgios seeks his second Top-10 win at the ATP Cup and the 22nd of his career. • Kyrgios’ 56 aces in singles at the ATP Cup are the most among the 53 players who’ve competed in singles. Those free points are benefitting more than himself and his team. Every ace served at the ATP Cup equals a $100 donation from the ATP Tour and Tennis Australia to the Australian Red Cross bushfire disaster relief and recovery efforts. Through eight days of play, 1,226 aces have been served and $122,600 will be donated. • In a tweet on 2 January, Kyrgios pledged to personally donate $200 for every ace that he hits. Kyrgios’ personal donation is up to $11,800, which includes three aces from his dramatic doubles win in Thursday’s quarter-finals. • Neither Australia nor Spain has lost an ATP Cup doubles match. Pablo Carreno Busta is 4-0 for Team Spain. • During the first semi-final, World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev seeks his third straight head-to-head win over No. 2 Novak Djokovic. If Medvedev repeats his Monte-Carlo and Cincinnati wins, he will be the sixth player to sweep the Serbian three times in a row and the first since Nadal at Roland Garros, Montreal and the US Open in 2013. • Medvedev is one of 41 active players to have met Djokovic at least five times (2-3). All 41 have losing records. • Djokovic vs. Medvedev is the first match between Top-5 singles players at the ATP Cup. Another will occur in the final if Team Spain advances. Four of the Top 5 players competed across Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. • Serbian No. 2 Dusan Lajovic is 2-0 against Russian No. 2 Karen Khachanov with two 6-3 6-2 wins on clay. • Khachanov, Medvedev and Djokovic are each 4-0 in singles matches at the ATP Cup. Following singles, Khachanov and Medvedev (1-1 in doubles) are scheduled to meet Djokovic and Troicki (1-0 in doubles). • Three of the four captains in the semi-finals are former World No. 1s: Lleyton Hewitt of Australia (singles), Marat Safin of Russia (singles) and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia (doubles). The odd man out is Spanish captain Francisco Roig, who earned career-high rankings of No. 60 in singles and No. 23 in doubles during the 1990s. MEDIA NOTES ATP CUP - TEAM LINEUPS Serbia (4-0) Group A Winner Russia (4-0) Group D Winner Novak Djokovic 4-0 Singles, 1-0 Doubles Daniil Medvedev 4-0 Singles, 1-1 Doubles Dusan Lajovic 3-1 Singles Karen Khachanov 4-0 Singles, 1-1 Doubles Viktor Troicki 3-1 Doubles Teymuraz Gabashvili 2-0 Doubles Nikola Cacic 2-1 Doubles Konstantin Kravchuk 2-0 Doubles Nikola Milojevic Ivan Nedelko Nenad Zimonjic (Captain) Marat Safin (Captain) Australia (4-0) Group F Winner Spain (4-0) Group B Winner Alex de Minaur 2-1 Singles, 1-0 Doubles Rafael Nadal 3-1 Singles, 2-0 Doubles Nick Kyrgios 3-0 Singles, 1-0 Doubles Roberto Bautista Agut 4-0 Singles John Millman 2-0 Singles Pablo Carreno Busta 4-0 Doubles John Peers 3-0 Doubles Feliciano Lopez 2-0 Doubles Chris Guccione 3-0 Doubles Albert Ramos-Vinolas Lleyton Hewitt (Captain) Francisco Roig (Captain) ATP CUP - SEMI-FINALS SERBIA vs RUSSIA Dusan Lajovic (SRB) vs Karen Khachanov (RUS) Lajovic Leads 2-0 16 Kitzbuhel (Austria) Clay QF Dusan Lajovic 6-3 6-2 18 ATP Masters 1000 Madrid (Spain) Clay R64 Dusan Lajovic 6-3 6-2 Lajovic 2019 Summary | Age: 29 | World No. 34 (Career-High No. 23) | 2019 W-L: 21-27 | Career Titles: 1 W (1): Umag (d Balazs) F (1): ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Fognini) • Owns 3-1 record at ATP Cup with wins over Harris (RSA), Jarry (CHI) and Auger-Aliassime (CAN). Lost to Paire (FRA). • Finished as No. 2 Serbian for 3rd time in 2019 (also 2014, 2018). Achieved career-high No. 23 on 29 April. • Won 1st ATP Tour singles title at Umag (d. Balazs) and 2nd doubles title at Chengdu w/Cacic (d. Erlich/F. Martin). • Earned biggest win of career over No. 5 Thiem and did not drop a set en route to 1st ATP Tour final at ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo (l. to Fognini). World No. 48 became lowest-ranked Monte-Carlo finalist since No. 53 Arazi in 2001. • One of 4 Serbians to reach Roland Garros 3R -- most ever in a Grand Slam 3R (l. to A. Zverev in 5 sets). Khachanov 2019 Summary | Age: 23 | World No. 17 (Career-High No. 8) | 2019 W-L: 30-29 | Career Titles: 4 SF (2): ATP Masters 1000 Montreal (l Medvedev); Beijing (l Thiem) QF (5): ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l Nadal); Roland Garros (l Thiem); Halle (l Berrettini); Moscow (l Seppi); Vienna (l Schwartzman) • Owns 4-0 singles record at ATP Cup with wins over Travaglia (ITA), Fritz (USA), Durasovic (NOR) and Pella (ARG). • Finished as No. 2 Russian for 3rd time in 2019 (also 2016-17). Was No. 1 Russian in 2018. • Broke into Top 10 of FedEx ATP Rankings on 10 June and achieved career-high No. 8 on 15 July. • Reached SFs at ATP Masters 1000 Montreal (d. A. Zverev, l. to Medvedev) and Beijing (l. to Thiem). • Defeated Del Potro to reach 1st Grand Slam QF at Roland Garros (l. to Thiem). • Also reached QFs at ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l. to Nadal), Halle (l. to Berrettini), Moscow as defending champion (d. Kohlschreiber after saving 5 MPs, l. to Seppi) and Vienna (l. to Schwartzman). • Fell to Struff in opening match at ATP Masters 1000 Paris as defending champion. Lost 990 ranking points. • Despite that loss, advanced to 2nd ATP Masters 1000 doubles final at Paris w/Rublev (l. to Herbert/Mahut). MEDIA NOTES Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs Daniil Medvedev (RUS) Djokovic Leads 3-2 17 Davis Cup 1R (Serbia) Hard RR Novak Djokovic 3-6 6-4 6-1 1-0 ret 17 Eastbourne (Great Britain) Grass SF Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-4 19 Australian Open (Australia) Hard R16 Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-7(5) 6-2 6-3 19 ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo Clay QF Daniil Medvedev 6-3 4-6 6-2 19 ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati (U.S.A.) Hard SF Daniil Medvedev 3-6 6-3 6-3 Djokovic 2019 Summary | Age: 32 | World No. 2 (Career-High No. 1) | 2019 W-L: 57-11 | Career Titles: 77 W (5): Australian Open (d Nadal); ATP Masters 1000 Madrid (d Tsitsipas); Wimbledon (d Federer); Tokyo (d Millman); ATP Masters 1000 Paris (d Shapovalov) F (1): ATP Masters 1000 Rome (l Nadal) • Owns 4-0 ATP Cup singles record with wins over Anderson (RSA), Monfils (FRA), Garin (CHI) and Shapovalov (CAN). • Finished as No. 1 Serbian for 15th straight year in 2019. Earned 50+ wins for 12th time (2007-16, 2018-19). • Saved 2 championship points to defeat Federer in longest Wimbledon final on record (4 hours, 55 minutes). • Became 1st Wimbledon champion to save championship point since Bob Falkenburg saved 3 MPs in 1948 final. • Prior to 5th Wimbledon title, captured record 7th Aus. Open title (d. Nadal). Third all-time with 16 Grand Slam titles. • Became 1st player in history to win 3+ straight Grand Slam titles on 3 occasions (2011-12, 2015-16, 2018-19). • Also 1st player to win a Grand Slam final over Nadal in straight sets. Spaniard has reached 27 Grand Slam finals. • Fell to Thiem in Roland Garros SF, ending Slam win streak at 26. Retired vs. Wawrinka in US Open 4R (left shoulder). • Did not drop a set en route to 33rd ATP Masters 1000 title at Madrid (d. Tsitsipas) and 34th at Paris (d. Shapovalov). • Added 12th ATP 500 title at Tokyo (d. Millman). Owns 77 career titles, tied for 5th-most in Open Era with McEnroe.