2021 ATP Cup: Mischa Zverev to skipper Germany in the 12-team event

Mischa Zverev will be the German team captain at the 2021 ATP Cup. The 33-year-old has taken up the captaincy mantle after the unavailability of Boris Becker and Michael Kohlmann to helm the responsibility as they had done in the 2020 edition of the event.

Becker resigned from his position with the German Tennis Federation in November while Kohlmann will not be travelling to Australia due to Coronavirus concerns. “So, we decided that Mischa should take over the function,” Kohlmann said.

The ATP Cup was held for the first time in 2020 replacing the Hopman Cup. The event was played across three cities, Perth, Sydney and Brisbane. A total of 24 teams, bracketed into six groups of four teams, played the event. The Serbian team led by world no. 1 Novak Djokovic won the tournament. In the final, Serbia defeated Spain with Djokovic winning his singles match over Rafael Nadal.

2021 ATP Cup: A trimmed tournament

Germany, which was in Group F along with Canada, Greece and Australia failed to go beyond the round-robin stage. Of the three matches Germany played, it lost two matches and won the one match – against Greece. To add insult to injury, the team’s top-ranked player, Alexander Zverev lost all three of his singles matches.

In 2021, the second edition of the tournament will be a much shorter event. It will be played between 1st-5th February at just the one venue, in Melbourne Park. While the rankings of the top-ranked player of each country will determine the 11-team playing field, Australia has received a wild card entry as the host nation. Last year, Australia reached the semi-finals before losing to Spain.

The number of teams will also be reduced from 24 to 12. The format will, however, remain the same. There will be four groups of three teams each with the top team in each group making it to the semi-finals. The semi-finals will be played on 4th February with the final set for the following day. 

Alongside a reduction in the number of teams, the 2021 ATP Cup will also have its prize money reduced by 40%. If a singles player goes undefeated in the tournament, he would gain 500 ATP points. A doubles player going the entire event without a loss will gain 250 ATP points. 

The German field for the 2021 ATP Cup is expected to comprise of Alexander Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff, Andreas Mies and Kevin Krawietz.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3nUe1iv