Tennis

Dennis Novak booked Austria’s place in the 2020 Davis Cup qualifiers on Saturday, coming from a set down to defeat Harri Heliovaara 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) and complete a 3-2 victory in Espoo, Finland.

The 26-year-old, who was ruled out of action on Friday due to illness, landed 14 aces and broke serve on three occasions to overcome the World No. 716 in two hours and 18 minutes. Novak was needed for a deciding fifth rubber after the two nations split the third and fourth matches of the tie earlier in the day.

Oliver Marach and Jurgen Melzer earned Austria a 2-1 advantage with a 7-6(5), 6-2 victory against Henri Kontinen and Emil Ruusuvuori, allowing World No. 5 Dominic Thiem the opportunity to clinch the tie. But Thiem’s nine-match Davis Cup singles winning streak was brought to an end by World No. 163 Ruusuvuori, who cruised past the 14-time tour-level titlist 6-3, 6-2 to earn his second straight-sets win of the tie.

Slovakia will join Austria in the 2020 Davis Cup qualifiers after back-to-back wins against Switzerland confirmed a 3-1 result for the home nation in Bratislava. Filip Polasek and Igor Zelenay earned the hosts a 2-1 lead with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph against Jerome Kym and Henri Laaksonen, before Norbert Gombos charged to a 51-minute 6-1, 6-1 win against Henri Laaksonen.

Sweden and Belarus also secured wins, with the home sides overcoming Israel and Portugal, respectively. Brazil became the first nation from Americas Group I to advance, beating Barbados 3-1, while Uzbekistan claimed the first available spot from Asia/Oceania Group I after edging Lebanon 3-2.

Davis Cup Group I and Group II ties are promotion and relegation ties for 2020. Group I victors this week will filter into 2020 Davis Cup qualifiers in February. They do not affect the 2019 Davis Cup Finals, which already features 16 teams.

It’s that time of the year again when the attention of the tennis world begins to focus on who will qualify for Nitto ATP Finals. Only this season’s best eight singles players and doubles teams will compete at the world’s biggest indoor tennis event, to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November.

Players earn their place at the season finale by finishing in the Top 8 of the ATP Race To London on 4 November, when the ATP Tour regular season concludes after the Rolex Paris Masters. The Race is a calendar-year points race that starts at the beginning of each ATP Tour season. 

Throughout the season a player adds his best eligible results from up to 18 tournaments to his Race points tally. Winning a prestigious ATP Masters 1000 title earns the champion 1000 points. Titles at ATP 500 and 250-level tournaments return 500 points and 250 points, respectively. Players who don’t win the title still earn points based on how far they advance in the draw.

The Race differs from the ATP Rankings, the historical world rankings. A player’s ranking is determined by his best 18 tournament results over the preceding 52 weeks. A high ranking is needed to get into the world’s best tournaments and rankings also determine if a player is seeded. Novak Djokovic is known as the World No. 1 because he sits atop the Rankings. Daniil Medvedev is known as a Top 10 player because he is No. 4 in the Rankings.

More often than not, a player’s Race standing is different to his ranking. For example, Rafael Nadal is first in the Race but second in the Rankings because he has enjoyed more success in 2019 — with two Grand Slam and two ATP Masters 1000 titles — than over the longer time period of the past 52 weeks. Nadal concluded his 2018 season early due to injury, following a semi-final run at the US Open.

In the latter part of the season, a player’s focus turns to his position in the Race because it becomes an accurate predictor of what the player’s year-end ranking will be. And, of course, the Race determines who makes it to London.

Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer and Medvedev are the four players who have already booked their spots at The O2. In doubles, one team – Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah – has booked its spots.