|
The top two men's players will be joined by
world number three Dominic Thiem and Russian No. 4 Daniil
Medvedev on the opening day of the tournament at Melbourne Park,
which will also host the year's first Grand Slam from Feb. 8-21.
Reigning champions Serbia, led by Australian Open holder
Djokovic, will begin their title defence against Canada on Rod
Laver Arena and will also play Germany in the group stages.
Austrian Thiem, who lost to Djokovic in last year's final in
Melbourne, will play the early session on the John Cain Arena
against Italy.
World number two Nadal, part of the team that finished
runners-up to Serbia, and ATP Finals winner Medvedev will
highlight the evening sessions when they play against opponents
from hosts Australia and Argentina.
The ATP Cup debuted last year with 24 teams and was held across
three cities in Australia but there will be half the number of
teams in this year's edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The start of this year's tournament has been pushed back by a
day to allow more time to train for 72 players confined to their
hotel rooms after some passengers on the three charter flights
that brought them to Australia tested positive.
Russia are the only team with two top 10 players in their side
in Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, while Argentina and Japan are led
by No.9 Diego Schwartzman and Kei Nishikori, ranked 41st.
The winners from each group will advance to the semi-finals.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Ed Osmond)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
