Tennis

Alexander Zverev has had a week of preparation before a Grand Slam unlike any other in his career this week in Melbourne.

Two-a-days? The 22-year-old has been enduring three practices a day and logging five to seven hours on court ahead of the season’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, which starts Monday.

The week before a Grand Slam is typically a lighter week of practice for players, especially those in the Top 10. But Zverev was disappointed with his ATP Cup showing for Germany in Brisbane – he went 0-3 against Aussie Alex de Minaur, Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and Canadian Denis Shapovalov – and wanted to fix on the practice courts what troubled him.

“I need to get my tennis back because how I was playing at the ATP Cup was just not going to be good enough to do well at a Grand Slam. I know that, my team knows that, my coaching staff knows that. The hours are in now. Now it’s just about getting the final preparations right,” Zverev said on Friday in Melbourne.

The seventh seed is looking to reach past the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time. Zverev has twice reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals (2018, 2019). His best showing in Melbourne came last year when he made the fourth round before falling to Milos Raonic of Canada.

“This was more like a training block for me really than a preparation for a Grand Slam. But it’s also different: I’ve never been past a quarter-final at a Grand Slam. Maybe this will also be something new and something different and maybe it will work as well,” Zverev said.

Zverev said, in particular, he worked on his serve, which had troubled him in Brisbane and at times last year. His serve was working well in practice, he said, which typically bodes well for his matches.

“I’m also not a player that gets too nervous or too emotionally down when I play matches. When something doesn’t work in practice, that’s when it doesn’t work in matches,” he said.

“For example, at ATP Cup, I was not able to serve in practice as well. It was just bad with the timing. It was just off. Normally when it gets better in practice, it also will automatically get better on the match court. Maybe not in the first match or the first set, but I think gradually it will improve as well on the match court.”

Zverev isn’t counting himself as a favourite to win the season’s first major championship, but he’s not counting himself out, either, as he expects the usual flurry of upsets Down Under during the first month of the season.

“Other players are playing better than me. So this is also a process. I’m happy to know that I can go out there and feel comfortable. Maybe go through a few matches, and then, normally what happens with me is the further I can go in the tournament, the better I start playing,” he said.

“I think a lot of young guys have a chance this year, maybe more than the last few years. It’s going to be interesting to see. I think there will be some upsets during the week, I think some young guys maybe will lose earlier than we think they will. But I also think some young guys maybe will do better than we think they will.”

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And although the three-time ATP Masters 1000 titlist doesn’t arrive in Melbourne with heaps of momentum, he’s prepared to fight his way through the draw.

“I will still try my best. I will still work my butt off to win every single point that I play out there. If it works, great, if it doesn’t, I will do the same and train again,” Zverev said.

As he knows, practice is great but it’s not match play.

“The day when you’re on court everything changes,” he said, “and nobody really cares what you’ve done the weeks before.”

Team Serbia defeated Team Spain 2-1 in a blockbuster final to win the first ATP Cup at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney. 

Roberto Bautista Agut gave Spain the early advantage with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Dusan Lajovic before Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal 6-2, 7-6(4) in the battle of the No.1 players. Djokovic and Viktor Troicki then clinched the live doubles rubber over Pablo Carreno Busta and Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4 to seal the title.

BY THE NUMBERS

For the past 10 days, the world’s top 24 countries have excited and delighted fans across Brisbane, Perth and Sydney for the love of country.

In total, 220,319 fans attended the first ATP Cup.

By the numbers brings you all the facts, stats and need-to-know details of ATP Cup 2020. 

On-court action
• 118 players, including eight of the Top 10 featuring world No. 1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) and No. 2 Novak Djokovic (SRB), 16 of the Top 20, 23 of the Top 30 and 35 of the Top 50 singles players starred in the inaugural edition
• Group Stages saw two groups of four teams play at Pat Rafter Arena (Brisbane), RAC Arena (Perth) and Ken Rosewall Arena (Sydney) for a spot in the Final Eight
• Australia, Great Britain, Russia, Serbia, Spain and Argentina won through to the Final Eight courtesy of winning their group
• Belgium and Canada were the two best second-placed teams
• A total of AUD $22 million / USD $15 million in prize money was awarded
• Up to 750 FedEx ATP Rankings points were up for grabs with points awarded for match wins in each round, with the number of points depending on the ranking of the opponent and the round of the result. In doubles, an undefeated player who played and won all possible doubles matches earnt up to 250 FedEx ATP Rankings points 
• Three of the four semifinals captains were former world No.1s: Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) (singles), Marat Safin (RUS) (singles) and Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) (doubles)
• There were three playing captains among the 118 playing group: Gilles Simon (FRA), Steve Darcis (BEL) and Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 
• At 41 years of age (19-04-1978), doubles player Toshihide Matsui (JPN) was the oldest of the 118 player field
• At 17 years of age (20-11-2002), singles player Khololwam Montsi (RSA) was the youngest of the 118 player field  
• Australia was the only team in the Final Eight to feature five players who competed in Group Stage play
• 129 matches and 304 sets were contested across the 10 days of competition 
• Four countries progressed to the Final Eight without losing a tie – Australia, Russia, Serbia, Spain 
• Australia and Spain were the only countries to advance to the Final Eight without losing a match 
• Spain won 90 percent of their sets in the Group Stage – the most of any country
• Spain won 65.8 percent of their games in the Group Stage – the most of any country
• At 204 minutes, Dan Evans (GBR) and Alex de Minaur’s (AUS) quarterfinal clash was the longest of the tournament.

Attendance
• 220,319 fans shared in the excitement of the ATP Cup across the three host cities 
• Day 2 (4 January) was the busiest day of the tournament attracting 31,631 spectators across Brisbane, Perth and Sydney
• The final between Serbia and Spain attracted a sell-out 10,223 crowd at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena
• Perth hosted the highest attended session during the Group Stages with 8,139 fans turning up for Spain vs. Japan.

Innovation 
• Team Zones in the corners of the court brought players closer to fans than ever before 
o Captains, players and coaches were equipped with access to real time statistics, data, insights and match vision and had the ability to bring up any points played according to specific match statistics at the touch of a button, as well as bookmark specific points for post-match analysis
o The Team Zone offered access to ATP’s Second Screen, an advanced platform providing player and ball tracking data in real time
• Strategy Rooms gave unprecedented access to match analysis and debriefing tools to captains and their teams
• Video Review (VR) enabled communication between Chair Umpires and VR operators and greater review capacity with six new and dedicated foot fault cameras. VR is designed to assist with contentious officiating decisions such as double bounces, foul shots, touches or invasion. Following a previous trial at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, the ATP Cup became the first FedEx ATP Rankings event in history to use VR
• On court coaching was allowed for the team captain and competing players’ individual coaches, while fellow team members were permitted to assist with input during changeovers and set breaks.

Accolades
• Australian tennis great Ken Rosewall unveiled the new canopy roof of the $50.5 million upgrade to Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre
• Aussie tennis legend Tony Roche was presented with ATP’s Tim Gullikson Career Coach Award for excellence, leadership, respect, and true love for the sport of tennis and the art of coaching.

Aces for Bushfire Relief Initiative 
• A total of 1,322 aces were served and AUD $132,200 donated to Tennis Australia’s Aces for Bushfire Relief initiative 
• Nick Kyrgios (AUS) served the most aces of any player with 69 aces to his name
• ATP players donated AUD $725,000 to WWF’s Australian Wildlife and Nature Recovery Fund.

Partners
• The ATP Cup attracted a strong cohort of premium brands for the first edition of the tournament
• Host city partners Tourism and Events Queensland and Brisbane Marketing, Tourism WA and Destination NSW hosted the tournament across Australia 
• Luxury watchmaker Rolex was the official timekeeper of the ATP Cup 
• Marriott Bonvoy accommodated the playing group, coaches, VIPs and tournament staff at participating properties in each city 
• ANZ continued its support of Tennis Australia’s grassroots program ANZ Tennis Hot Shots with a number of participation initiatives taking place during the tournament 
• Players across the three cities were transported by a fleet of 90 Kia cars during the tournament 
• Dunlop supplied the official tennis balls 
• Carlton & United Breweries (CUB)’s Stella Artois and Pure Blonde Organic Cider, Schweppes, Canadian Club, Aperol and Treasury Wines kept spectators refreshed
• La Roche-Posay provided spectators with sunscreen 
• Toshiba provided onsite technology support
• BLK Sport outfitted staff, ball kids, officials and volunteers in technical apparel. 

Tournament operations 
• 235 ball kids aged between 12 and 16 years of age participated in the ATP Cup across Brisbane, Perth and Sydney 
• 694 volunteers gave their time, supporting ATP Cup activations, accreditation, court services, media operations, patron services, player services, locker room and transport
• There was a total of nine chair and 145 line umpires officiating at the tournament including 32 from overseas representing 18 countries and 22 from interstate. 

Trophy 
• The ATP Cup trophy was made in Australia from locally sourced materials
• Made from sterling silver, the stunning symmetrical design of the ATP Cup consists of 24 shards, with each representing one of the 24 countries in competition. The shards support a silver stem adorned with a hand-blown glass silver sphere, replicating both a traditional tennis ball and the hemisphere logo of the event
• A team of six dedicated more than 320 hours to designing and producing the ATP Cup
• It stands 50 centimetres tall
• As well as the ATP Cup, ABC Bullion are responsible for producing the Australian Open men’s singles trophy, the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup and the Melbourne Cup.

Media
• 239 media representatives including 150 local and 89 international media provided detailed coverage of the ATP Cup Group Stages and Final Eight 
• More than 125 press conferences took place during the tournament. 

Production 
• Full court LED screens surrounded centre court in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney and heightened the in-stadium experience, providing a dynamic platform for entertainment, replays, reviews and stats
• State-of-the-art production captured behind-the-scenes footage and rare player access, players’ team dynamics and unique content across social media and broadcast throughout the event
• The Veronicas raised the roof at Ken Rosewall Arena as part of the prelude to the ATP Cup final. The Aussie pop duo performed two of their hit songs – In My Blood and Untouched. 

Broadcast
• The ATP Cup was broadcast in more than 180 territories worldwide 
• More than 15,000 broadcast hours in 40+ languages was expected
• Domestically, the ATP Cup was broadcast on Channel Nine 
• The ATP Cup host broadcast was produced by Tennis Australia and featured 100 cameras across the three cities utilising world leading broadcast technology 
• Live cameras included NetCams in all stadiums, GCams in all stadiums, RF beauty cameras in each city and Spidercam for the Final Eight 
• Camera and audio design specifically developed with the unique court set up in mind – taking in the team zones in the corners of the court where players and their team mates sat side-by-side during matches  
• Electronic Line Calling as well as the all-new Video Review and endless coverage of key areas behind the scenes put viewers in every gym and strategy room
• A contribution ring of 32 feeds between Brisbane, Perth and Sydney and up to 16 feeds were distributed off shore with live action for more than 17 hours a day
• Hundreds of pieces of post-produced event content were created
• Almost 300 broadcast crew and talent from all over the world worked on the coverage including a group of 21 of the world’s leading tennis experts – amongst them Jim Courier, Tim Henman, Samantha Smith, Mark Petchey, Roger Rasheed, Sam Groth, Casey Dellacqua, Joshua Eagle, Todd Woodbridge, Robbie Koenig and John Fitzgerald
• A newly developed scoring graphics package plus a suite of virtual and augmented reality graphics and some exclusive court surface chroma key graphics also featured throughout the coverage
• Up to five cameras with augmented reality capabilities were in use throughout the tournament.

Social media 
• The most popular post on Instagram: “It’s pretty sad, it’s tough” Nick Kyrgios’ post match interview  
• The most popular post on Facebook: Team Spain painting challenge 
• The most popular post on Twitter: Aces for bushfire 

ATPCup.com
• The top five countries to visit ATPCup.com were Australia, United States, Canada, United Kingdom and India
• The top three articles were: Learn More About 2020 ATP Cup Teams, Final Eight Qualification Scenarios, Learn More About Team Australia
• The most popular three videos were: Spain Breaks Serve After Successful Challenge, De Minaur/Kyrgios Clinch Tie In Dramatic Fashion, Hot Shot: Nadal Clinches Double Break After Marathon Point
• Throughout the tournament period there were 331 videos uploaded to the ATP Cup website. 

The ATP Cup is supported by official Host City partners, Tourism and Events Queensland and Brisbane Marketing, Tourism WA and Destination NSW.