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 - SUNDAY 5 JANUARY 2020 • A blockbuster in Brisbane between host Australia and upstart Canada highlights Day 3 of the inaugural ATP Cup. Depending on the result of Germany vs. Greece, the Aussies or Canadians could qualify for the quarter- finals with a win. If Australia and Germany win, the Aussies will book their place 9-12 January in Sydney. If Canada and Greece win, the Canadians will secure a berth among the ‘Elite Eight’ of the 2020 ATP Cup. • Four of the ATP Tour’s brightest starts will feature in Australia vs. Canada. Nick Kyrgios, 24, opens against Felix Auger-Aliassime, 19, before 20-year-olds Alex de Minaur and Denis Shapovalov go head-to-head. • Born less than two months apart in 1999, de Minaur and Shapovalov met in the 2016 Wimbledon boys’ singles final. Shapovalov rallied from a set down to defeat de Minaur for the title. The Aussie avenged that loss during the Davis Cup Finals last November, beating Shapovalov in a quarter-final tie that Canada went on to win 2-1. • Shapovalov has risen from No. 38 to a career-high No. 15 in the FedEx ATP Rankings after hiring former No. 8 Mikhail Youzhny as his coach last August. He is 22-10 since Winston-Salem, his first event with the Russian. Top #NextGenATP Players in FedEx ATP Rankings Ranking Player Age 2019 W-L 15 Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 20 38-28 18 Alex de Minaur (AUS) 20 41-20 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 19 33-23 59 Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) 20 24-22 78 Jannik Sinner (ITA) 18 11-10 #NextGenATP players were born in 1999 or later • In doubles, Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov are scheduled to meet Chris Guccione and John Peers. Peers and Henri Kontinen beat Guccione and Sam Groth en route to the 2017 Australian Open title. Guccione had been inactive since then until he and Peers defeated Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies of Germany on Friday. • Guccione returned to the ATP Tour with a protected ranking following injuries to both of his Achilles tendons. He started coaching during his hiatus, and with the pain finally gone, decided to resume training seven months ago. • Also in Brisbane, World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) and No. 7 Alexander Zverev (GER) will meet following losses on Friday to Shapovalov and de Minaur respectively. Tsitsipas leads their head-to-head 4-1. • Cinderella stories are being told in Perth and Sydney, where Norway and Bulgaria boast 1-0 records respectively. Only one player from both nations is in the Top 300 of the FedEx ATP Rankings. That one player made a big difference on Friday when Casper Ruud (NOR) and Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) each earned two wins. • Ruud and Dimitrov are both scheduled for singles and doubles on Day 3. Norway faces Italy in Perth and Bulgaria meets Moldova in Sydney. No teams from Groups C and D can qualify on Sunday for the quarter-finals. • Following 3-0 wins on opening day, Russia and Belgium return against the USA and Great Britain respectively. 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 C SUNDAY MATCHES BULGARIA (1-0) vs MOLDOVA (0-1) Dimitar Kuzmanov (BUL) vs Alexander Cozbinov (MDA) First Meeting Kuzmanov 2019 Summary | Age: 26 | World No. 423 (Career-High No. 250) | 2019 W-L: 1-2 | Career Titles: 0 • Fell to Norrie 6-2 3-6 6-2 in opening rubber of Bulgaria’s 2-1 win over Great Britain on Friday. • Finished as No. 2 Bulgarian for 5th time in 2019 (also 2013, 2015-16, 2018). • Seeking 1st ATP Tour win of career (0-5). All 7 career tour-level wins have come in Davis Cup Group II ties. • Went 10-9 on ATP Challenger Tour in 2019. • Captured ITF World Tennis Tour titles at Antalya, TUR in May (d. Prihodko); Antalya, TUR in November (d. Casanova) and Doha, QAT in December (d. Kalenichenko). • Mother, Dora Rangelova, is Bulgarian Fed Cup captain. Cozbinov 2019 Summary | Age: 24 | World No. 818 (Career-High No. 816) | 2019 W-L: 0-0 | Career Titles: 0 • Fell to Darcis 6-4 6-7(4) 7-5 in ATP Tour debut on Friday (BEL d. MDA 3-0). • Finished as No. 2 Moldovan for 2nd straight year in 2019. • Achieved career-high No. 816 in FedEx ATP Rankings on 9 December. • Owns 0-3 career record on ATP Challenger Tour (0-1 in 2019). • Captured 1st ITF World Tennis Tour singles title at Pittsburgh, USA in July (d. Freund). • Also won 3 ITF World Tennis Tour doubles titles with 3 different partners last season. • Turned pro in 2019 following 4-year college tennis career at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2015-18). Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) vs Radu Albot (MDA) First Meeting Dimitrov 2019 Summary | Age: 28 | World No. 20 (Career-High No. 3) | 2019 W-L: 22-21 | Career Titles: 8 SF (2): US Open (l Medvedev); ATP Masters 1000 Paris (l Djokovic) QF (2): Brisbane (l Nishikori); Chengdu (l Bublik) • Beat Evans 2-6 6-4 6-1 to help Bulgaria to 2-1 win over Great Britain on Friday. • Finished as No. 1 Bulgarian for 11th straight year in 2019. • Defeated Federer for 1st time in 8 tries to reach 3rd Grand Slam SF at US Open (l. to Medvedev). • Entered US Open at No. 78 -- lowest ranking since No. 87 on 4 June 2012. Became lowest-ranked Grand Slam semi- finalist since No. 94 Schuettler at 2008 Wimbledon and US Open semi-finalist since No. 174 Connors in 1991. • Earned 20+ wins for 8th straight season (2012-19) and finished in Top 20 for 4th straight year (2016-19). • Upset Thiem en route to 6th ATP Masters 1000 SF at Paris (l. to No. 1 Djokovic). • Advanced to QFs at Brisbane (l. to eventual champion Nishikori) and Chengdu (l. to Bublik after holding 2 MPs). • Reached Australian Open 4R (l. to Tiafoe) and Roland Garros 3R (d. Tipsarevic and Cilic in 5 sets, l. to Wawrinka). • Earned 300th career win in Vienna 1R (d. Dzumhur, l. to Berrettini in 2R). No other Bulgarian man has 20+ wins. • Qualified at Geneva (l. to Delbonis in 1R) -- 1st time playing qualifying since 2012 ATP Masters 1000 Paris. • Withdrew from Rotterdam, Acapulco, ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells and ’s-Hertogenbosch (right shoulder). MEDIA NOTES Albot 2019 Summary | Age: 30 | World No. 46 (Career-High No. 39) | 2019 W-L: 31-26 | Career Titles: 1 W (1): Delray Beach (d Evans) SF (3): Montpellier (l Tsonga); Geneva (l Jarry); Los Cabos (l Fritz) • Fell to Goffin 6-4 6-1 on Friday (BEL d. MDA 3-0). • Finished as No. 1 Moldovan for 8th straight year in 2019. • Captured 1st ATP Tour title in 1st final at Delray Beach (d. Evans in 3rd-set TB after saving 3 MPs). • Also defeated Kyrgios, Johnson and McDonald in 3 sets en route to Delray Beach title.