MEDIA NOTES City ATP Tour PR Tennis Australia PR Sydney Brendan Gilson: [email protected] Harriet Rendle: [email protected] Brisbane Richard Evans: [email protected] Kirsten Lonsdale: [email protected] Perth Mark Epps: [email protected] Victoria Bush: [email protected] ATPCup.com, @ATPCup / ATPTour.com, @ATPTour / TennisTV.com, @TennisTV ATP CUP TALKING POINTS - WEDNESDAY 8 JANUARY 2020 • The final four spots in the quarter-finals of the inaugural ATP Cup will be booked on Wednesday when group play concludes in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Serbia (A), Great Britain (C), Russia (D) and Australia (F) have already qualified for the quarter-finals to be held on Thursday and Friday at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney. Nine nations remain in contention for the four vacancies, with Groups B and E to be decided on Wednesday. • The winner of Group B will be determined in Perth when Spain (2-0) meets Japan (2-0). Team Japan’s No. 1 singles player, World No. 72 Yoshihito Nishioka, is ranked lower than all five players on the Spanish roster. He seeks the biggest win of his career against World No. 1 Rafael Nadal. Nishioka dropped just six games against Nikoloz Basilashvili and Pablo Cuevas earlier this week, while Nadal lost 11 games to the same opponents. • Croatia (2-0), Austria (1-1) and Argentina (1-1) are in contention to win Group E in Sydney. Croatia will claim the group by beating Argentina. If Argentina defeats Croatia and Poland defeats Austria, the Argentines will win the group. If Argentina and Austria win, there will be a three-way tie of 2-1 teams and the Group E winner will be… o Croatia if Argentina d. Croatia 2-1 o Austria if Argentina d. Croatia 3-0 and Austria d. Poland 3-0 o Team with highest percentage of sets won if Argentina d. Croatia 3-0 and Austria d. Poland 2-1 • The six group winners automatically qualify for the quarter-finals, leaving two places for teams that finish second in their groups. Belgium (2-1) and Canada (2-1) occupy those spots for now after ending group play on Tuesday. However, six teams competing on Wednesday remain in contention for the No. 7 and No. 8 places. Tiebreakers are as follows: (1) ties won, (2) ties played, (3) matches won, (4) matches played and (5) sets-won percentage. Teams in Contention for 7th/8th Quarter-final Spots Team Ties Matches Sets Belgium 2-1 6-3 12-10 (.545) Canada 2-1 5-4 12-8 (.600) Spain 2-0 6-0 12-1 (.923) Japan 2-0 5-1 10-3 (.769) Croatia 2-0 5-1 10-4 (.714) Austria 1-1 3-3 8-7 (.533) South Africa 1-1 3-3 7-7 (.500) France 1-1 3-3 7-8 (.467) NOTE: Argentina can qualify by winning Group E, but not as the No. 7 or No. 8 team. ATP Cup Quarter-final Lineup (Sydney) Quarter-final Schedule Draw Location Great Britain (C) vs Australia (F) Thursday at 10 am Bottom Half Russia (D) vs Group E Winner Thursday at 5:30 pm Top Half Serbia (A) vs No. 8 Team Friday at 10 am Top Half Group B Winner vs No. 7 Team Friday at 5:30 pm Bottom Half MEDIA NOTES ATP CUP - TEAM LINEUPS SYDNEY - GROUP C (BEL, GBR, BUL, MDA) and GROUP E (AUT, CRO, ARG, POL) Belgium Great Britain Bulgaria Moldova David Goffin Daniel Evans Grigor Dimitrov (PC) Radu Albot Steve Darcis (PC) Cameron Norrie Dimitar Kuzmanov Alexander Cozbinov Kimmer Coppejans James Ward Alexandar Lazarov Egor Matvievici Sander Gille Joe Salisbury Adrian Andreev Dmitrii Baskov Joran Vliegen Jamie Murray Alexander Donski Vladimir Albot (C) Tim Henman (C) Austria Croatia Argentina Poland Dominic Thiem Borna Coric Diego Schwartzman Hubert Hurkacz Dennis Novak Marin Cilic Guido Pella Kamil Majchrzak Sebastian Ofner Viktor Galovic Juan Ignacio Londero Kacper Zuk Jurgen Melzer Nikola Mektic Andres Molteni Wojciech Marek Oliver Marach Ivan Dodig Maximo Gonzalez Lukasz Kubot Thomas Muster (C) Luka Kutanjac (C) Gaston Gaudio (C) Marcin Matkowski (C) BRISBANE - GROUP A (SRB, FRA, RSA, CHI) and GROUP F (GER, GRE, CAN, AUS) Serbia France South Africa Chile Novak Djokovic Gael Monfils Kevin Anderson Cristian Garin Dusan Lajovic Benoit Paire Lloyd Harris Nicolas Jarry Nikola Milojevic Gilles Simon (PC) Ruan Roelofse Alejandro Tabilo Viktor Troicki Nicolas Mahut Khololwam Montsi Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera Nikola Cacic Edouard Roger-Vasselin Raven Klaasen Hans Podlipnik-Castillo Nenad Zimonjic (C) Jeff Coetzee (C) Paul Capdeville (C) Germany Greece Canada Australia Alexander Zverev Stefanos Tsitsipas Denis Shapovalov Alex de Minaur Jan-Lennard Struff Michail Pervolarakis Felix Auger-Aliassime Nick Kyrgios Mats Moraing Markos Kalovelonis Steven Diez John Millman Kevin Krawietz Petros Tsitsipas Peter Polansky John Peers Andreas Mies Alexandros Skorilas Adil Shamasdin Chris Guccione Boris Becker (C) Apostolos Tsitsipas (C) Adriano Fuorivia (C) Lleyton Hewitt (C) PERTH - GROUP B (ESP, JPN, GEO, URU) and GROUP D (RUS, ITA, USA, NOR) Spain Japan Georgia Uruguay Rafael Nadal Yoshihito Nishioka Nikoloz Basilashvili Pablo Cuevas Roberto Bautista Agut Go Soeda Aleksandre Metreveli Martin Cuevas Pablo Carreno Busta Toshihide Matsui George Tsivadze Juan Martin Fumeaux Albert Ramos-Vinolas Ben McLachlan Aleksandre Bakshi Franco Roncadelli Feliciano Lopez Satoshi Iwabuchi (C) Zura Tkemaladze Ariel Behar Francisco Roig (C) David Kvernadze (C) Felipe Maccio (C) Russia Italy USA Norway Daniil Medvedev Fabio Fognini John Isner Casper Ruud Karen Khachanov Stefano Travaglia Taylor Fritz Viktor Durasovic Teymuraz Gabashvili Paolo Lorenzi Tommy Paul Lukas Hellum-Lilleengen Ivan Nedelko Alessandro Giannessi Rajeev Ram Herman Hoeyeraal Konstantin Kravchuk Simone Bolelli Austin Krajicek Leyton Rivera Marat Safin (C) Alberto Giraudo (C) David Macpherson (C) Christian Ruud (C) C: Captain, PC: Playing Captain MEDIA NOTES ATP CUP - SYDNEY GROUP E WEDNESDAY MATCHES AUSTRIA (1-1) vs POLAND (0-2) Dennis Novak (AUT) vs Kacper Zuk (POL) First Meeting Novak 2019 Summary | Age: 26 | World No. 105 (Career-High No. 104) | 2019 W-L: 4-7 | Career Titles: 0 • Defeated Pella 0-6 6-4 6-4 (AUT d. ARG 3-0) after falling to Cilic 6-7(4) 6-4 6-4 (CRO d. AUT 3-0). • Finished as No. 2 Austrian for 2nd straight year in 2019. • Achieved career-high No. 104 in FedEx ATP Rankings on 24 June. • Reached 2R at Bastad (l. to Gasquet) and Kitzbuhel as WC (l. to Cuevas). • Qualified at Wimbledon (l. to Fucsovics in 1R), Gstaad (l. to Andujar in 1R) and Stockholm (l. to Querrey in 1R). • Won 1st ATP Challenger Tour titles of career at Taipei, TPE (d. Stakhovsky) and Bratislava, SVK (d. Dzumhur). • Also reached Ilkley, GBR Challenger final (l. to Koepfer). • Retired in Budapest, HUN Challenger 2R vs. Molcan (lower back) and withdrew from US Open qualifying (injury). Zuk 2019 Summary | Age: 20 | World No. 448 (Career-High No. 446) | 2019 W-L: 0-0 | Career Titles: 0 • Lost to Cilic 7-6(8) 6-4 in ATP Tour debut on Monday (CRO d. POL 2-1). • Achieved career-high No. 446 in FedEx ATP Rankings on 18 November. • Qualified and earned 1st ATP Challenger Tour main draw win at Szczecin, POL (d. Smola, l. to Mager in 2R). • Captured ITF World Tennis Tour singles titles at Sharm El Sheikh, EGY in March (d. Vivero Gonzalez); Troisdorf, GER in May (d. Vanneste) and Stockholm, SWE in September (d. Van de Zandschulp). • Won ITF World Tennis Tour doubles titles w/Zielinski at Wroclaw, POL in July (d. Galka/Galus); Antalya, TUR in September (d. Kalyanpur/Stevenson) and Sharm El Sheikh, EGY in November (d. Vivero Gonzalez/Yu). Dominic Thiem (AUT) vs Hubert Hurkacz (POL) Hurkacz Leads 1-0 19 ATP Masters 1000 Miami (U.S.A.) Hard R64 Hubert Hurkacz 6-4 6-4 Thiem 2019 Summary | Age: 26 | World No. 4 (Career-High No. 4) | 2019 W-L: 49-19 | Career Titles: 16 W (5): ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells (d Federer); Barcelona (d Medvedev); Kitzbuhel (d Ramos-Vinolas); Beijing (d Tsitsipas); Vienna (d Schwartzman) F (2): Roland Garros (l Nadal); Nitto ATP Finals (l Tsitsipas) • Defeated Schwartzman 6-3 7-6(3) (AUT d. ARG 3-0) after falling to Coric 7-6(4) 2-6 6-3 (CRO d. AUT 3-0). • Finished as No. 1 Austrian for 6th straight year in 2019. • Tied with Djokovic for ATP Tour-lead with 5 titles. Led ATP with 211 wins from 2016-19 (Nadal 2nd with 210). • Captured biggest of 16 career titles at ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells (d. 5-time champion Federer). • Joined 8-time ATP Masters 1000 champion Muster as 2nd Austrian to win an ATP Masters 1000 title. • Defeated Federer and Djokovic en route to Nitto ATP Finals championship match (l. to Tsitsipas in 3rd-set TB). • Won ATP 500 titles at Barcelona (d. Nadal and Medvedev), Beijing (d. Tsitsipas) and Vienna (d. Schwartzman). • Beat Nadal on clay for 4th straight season and became 2nd player to earn 4+ wins over Nadal on clay (Djokovic 7). • Did not drop a set en route to ATP 250 title at Kitzbuhel (d. Ramos-Vinolas). Went 9-0 in Austria last season. • Advanced to 4th straight Roland Garros SF and 2nd straight final (d. No. 1 Djokovic in 5 sets, l. to Nadal). • Earned 3rd career win over player ranked No. 1 and snapped Djokovic’s 26-match Grand Slam win streak. • Saved 2 MPs vs. Federer in ATP Masters 1000 Madrid QF (l. to No. 1 Djokovic in SF). Now 5-2 vs. Federer overall. • Ranked in Top 10 each week since 6 June 2016 -- 2nd-longest active streak (Nadal since 25 April 2005).