Davis Cup quarter-finalist Kazakhstan not good enough for the ATP Cup
Those who make it into the top eight nations at the Davis Cup final tournament do not have to claim a starting place in the ATP Cup for a long time.
by tennisnet.com
last edit:
Dec 01, 2021, 12:18 pm
It is still not entirely clear which nations will actually compete in the third edition of the ATP Cup, which is scheduled to start on January 1, 2022 in Sydney. The idea is still the following: The best players in the world should decide the title among themselves, which is why the ranking of the respective number one of a nation is the deciding factor for a right to start. And so, for example, the Serbs (thanks to Novak Djokovic - if he flies to Australia), the defending champions from Russia with Daniil Medvedev , and of course the German team with Alexander Zverev will serve in the Olympic city of 2000 at the beginning of the year. All of them major tennis nations that have made it to the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup that is currently taking place. Germany even without Zverev.
But a team that is among the last eight in the most traditional team competition in tennis will probably not get a starting place: namely, Kazakhstan. Top man Alexander Bublik may be among the ten best players in the world in terms of entertainment value, but the bare figures of the ATP world rankings only show him in 36th place.
Georgia before the USA
The distance to the next best player is enormous: Dmitry Popko is listed in 179th place. Which is by far not as much as in Geogien: Nikoloz Basilashvili leads the world as number 22, Aleksandre Metreveli "follows" in 569th place. The exciting thing now is that Georgia will rather take part in the ATP Cup than the big tennis power UNITED STATES. The best American, Taylor Fritz, is just one place behind Basilashvili, followed by John Isner . Also in the top 50 are Reilly Opelka, Frances Tiafoe, Sebastian Korda and Tommy Paul. However, that should not be enough, because a wildcard goes to the organizing Australians, whose best professional Alex de Minaur is currently in 34th place. So just before Alexander Bublik.
After the experience of this year, the Kazakhs would make a more formidable team than some fixed starters, but from the point of view of the teams in the waiting loop there is hope: Because behind some teams there are question marks that are based on injuries: This affects Greece with a bad elbow by Stefanos Tsitsipas as well as the Austrians with the convalescent Dominic Thiem . And Switzerland will definitely not start, after all, Roger Federer will be absent for the time being due to his knee problems.
Here is the nation ranking for the ATP Cup 2022
| No. | nation | Best player | ATP no. |
| 1 | Serbia | Novak Djokovic | 1 |
| 2 | Russia | Daniil Medvedev | 2 |
| 3 | Germany | Alexander Zverev | 3 |
| 4th | Greece | Stefanos Tsitsipas * | 4th |
| 5 | Spain | Roberto Bautista Agut **** | 19th |
| 6th | Italy | Matteo Berrettini | 7th |
| 7th | Norway | Casper Ruud | 8th |
| 8th | Poland | Hubert Hurkacz | 9 |
| 9 | Canada | Félix Auger-Aliassime | 11th |
| 10 | Great Britain | Cameron Norrie | 12th |
| 11th | Argentina | Diego Schwartzman | 13th |
| 12th | Austria | Dominic Thiem ** | 15th |
| 13th | Switzerland | Roger Federer*** | 16 |
| 14th | Chile | Cristian Garin | 17th |
| 15th | France | Gael Monfils | 21 |
| 16 | Georgia | Nikoloz Basilashvili | 22nd |
| 17th | United States | Taylor Fritz | 23 |
| 18th | Bulgaria | Grigor Dimitrov | 28 |
| 19th | Croatia | Marin Cilic | 30th |
| 20th | South Africa | Lloyd Harris | 31 |
| 21 | Australia | Alex de Minaur | 34 |
| 22nd | Kazakhstan | Alexander Bublik | 36 |
The 15 best nations plus a wildcard (probably Australia) receive a starting place.
* questionable due to an operation on the elbow
** questionable due to a wrist injury
*** not included due to Federer's knee injury
**** Top man Rafael Nadal will probably not start