The inaugural ATP Cup in Australia opens the 2020 men's tennis season on Jan. 3. The team tournament will pit countries against each other at the group stage, with the top eight teams advancing to the quarterfinals. Ties, otherwise known as team matchups, will be decided by two singles matches and one doubles match. The ATP Tour is hosting an ATP Cup Bracket Challenge coinciding with the event. It's free to enter and can be found here.
How It Works
Participants will make their picks for the top two teams among Groups A-F. The six predicted first place finishers from each group will automatically advance to the quarterfinals, along with the two second place teams with the best records. From there, participants will make their picks for each quarterfinal, semifinal and final matchup.
Participants will gain increasing points for correct predictions as the event progresses.
- Group Stage = 50 points
- Quarterfinals = 200 points
- Semifinals = 400 points
- Finals = 800 points
Participants can also alter their picks as the event unfolds, but points for these altered predictions will result in fewer points gained.
Check out the full list of rules here.
Advice
With such a heavy amount of points being dished out in the semifinals and finals, it makes sense to put your trust in the top two players in the world, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Spain, the reigning Davis Cup champion, should be considered the favorite in Group B and for the event overall behind Nadal and a strong supporting cast of Roberto Bautista Agut, Pablo Carreno Busta, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Feliciano Lopez.
Serbia is actually marked as the top seed at the competition despite a stark talent drop-off after Djokovic. But considering Djokovic's past success in Australia, which includes seven Australian Open titles, he should be nearly unbeatable in singles play. Group A could potentially be slightly tricky for Djokovic's squad, though, as they'll square off against France (Gael Monfils, Benoit Paire), South Africa (Kevin Anderson) and Chile (Cristian Garin, Nicolas Jarry).
After those two countries, Russia looks like a strong contender behind Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov. Those two players will need to be heavily relied upon if Russia is going to make a deep run out of Group D, and Medvedev was about as reliable as they come on hard courts in the latter half of 2019.
Group F looks to be the "Group of Death" at this year's ATP Cup, with each team posing a threat to advance to the quarterfinal stage. Germany is the favorite in that group, behind Alexander Zverev and Jan-Lennard Struff, but home team Australia (Nick Kyrgios, Alex De Minaur), Canada (Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime) and Greece (Stefanos Tsitsipas) are all dangerous.
Austria in Group E, anchored by Dominic Thiem, should not be taken lightly, but Thiem will need some help from a potentially overmatched supporting cast if the country is going to advance past the quarterfinals.
Predictions
Quarterfinalists: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Russia, Spain, Serbia, United States
Semifinalists: Germany, Russia, Serbia, Spain
Finalists: Spain, Russia
Champion: Spain
