This Friday, January 3 starts the ATP Cup , the new competition created by the highest tennis organization that intends to compete with the Davis Cup . Spain , current Davis champion that was played in Madrid, is the great favorite to lift the title, with Rafael Nadal, Roberto Bautista, Pablo Carreño, Albert Ramos and Feliciano López in the team, who will be captained by Francis Roig, coach turn of the Mallorcan tennis player.

What is the ATP Cup?

This is the first competition for teams created by the ATP, the Association of Professional Tennis Players, organizer of the main tennis circuit since 1990. It will be played by 24 countries and, unlike the Davis Cup, it will distribute points for the ATP ranking: 750 at most This first edition will be held in Australia, from January 3 to 12.

What format do you have?

First a group phase will be played, with six groups of four selections each. There will be three different venues (Brisbane, Sydney and Perth) and a subsequent 'Eight-Eight' with the leaders of each group and the two best seconds, which will be played for four days at the Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney.

How are the groups divided?

-Group A (Brisbane): Serbia (Novak Djokovic and Dusan Lajovic), France (Gael Monfils and Benoit Paire), South Africa (Kevin Anderson and Lloyd Harris) and Chile (Cristian Garín and Nicolás Jarry)

-Group B (Perth): Spain (Rafael Nadal and Roberto Bautista), Japan (Kei Nishikori and Yoshihito Nishioka), Georgia (Nikoloz Basilashvili and Aleksandre Metreveli) and Uruguay (Pablo Cuevas and Martín Cuevas)

-Group C (Sydney): Bulgaria (Grigor Dimitrov and Dimitar Kuzmanov), Belgium (David Goffin and Steve Darcis), Great Britain (Daniel Evans and Cameron Norrie) and Moldova (Radu Albot and Alexander Cozbinov)

-Group D (Perth): Russia (Daniil Medvedev and Karen Kachanov), Italy (Fabio Fognini and Stefano Travaglia), the United States (John Isner and Taylor Fritz) and Norway (Casper Ruud and Viktor Durasovic).

-Group E (Sydney): Austria (Dominic Thiem and Dennis Novak), Croatia (Borna Coric and Marin Cilic), Argentina (Diego Schwartzman and Guido Pella) and Poland (Hubert Hurkacz and Kamil Majchrzak).

-Group F (Brisbane): Germany (Alexander Zverev and Jan-Lennard Struff), Greece (Stefanos Tsitsipas and Michail Pervolarakis), Canada (Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime) and Australia (Nick Kyrgios and Alex de Miñaur).

How are the matches resolved?

Each 'match' between selections consists of two individual matches and one of doubles for the best of three sets, such as Davis. In case of a tie in the third round, there will be a tiebreak. Whoever wins two of those matches, wins the victory.

What players dispute it?

In Australia, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas will be great stars. The biggest absence will be that of Roger Federer, who also did not dispute Davis. Nor will Berrettini (8th in the world), Nishikori (13th) or Wawrinka (16th), in addition to Del Potro and Andy Murray.

What prize is distributed?

The tournament will distribute a total of 15 million dollars. Each player will receive a part just for participating and will achieve a maximum of $ 200,000 per game, depending on their ranking.

What is the schedule and where can it be seen?

The three locations have three different time zones. Sydney is 10 hours ahead of Madrid, Brisbane nine and Perth, where Spain will play the group stage, seven. The first meeting will be Greece-Canada of Group F, while Nadal and company will make their debut against Georgia on Saturday at 10:30 Spanish time. He will play again on Monday, again at 10:30 Spanish time, against Uruguay, and will close the first phase on Wednesday 6 at 3 in the morning against Japan. On television it can be followed by Teledeporte.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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