Novak Djokovic leads Serbia’s title defence at diminished ATP Cup

After a wildly profitable debut in 2020, the ATP Cup kicks off in additional subdued circumstances in Melbourne on Tuesday with Novak Djokovic trying to get champions Serbia off to a flying begin towards Canada within the truncated team-based occasion.
Last 12 months’s event featured 24 nations and performed to packed homes throughout the nation, however the upcoming occasion has been diminished to 12 groups and all of the motion shall be confined to Melbourne Park resulting from COVID-19 biosecurity measures.
Crowd capability for this 12 months has been capped at 25%.
The competitors will nonetheless present a kind information for subsequent week’s Australian Open, with a lot of the Grand Slam’s prime male contenders representing their nations after a compulsory 14 days in quarantine.
Djokovic, unbeaten in eight ties, was majestic in final 12 months’s event as he fired Serbia to a 2-1 victory over Spain within the closing, together with a straight units win over Rafa Nadal.
There shall be no easing in for the world primary as he faces Canada’s rising expertise Denis Shapovalov at Rod Laver Arena of their Group A conflict, a moutwatering rematch of final 12 months’s quarter-final.
The 21-year-old Shapovalov, lengthy tipped for Grand Slam success, pushed Djokovic to a third-set tiebreak final 12 months and shall be desperate to see if he has closed the hole on the Serb.

Nadal will headline the night session at Rod Laver Arena when he takes on house hope Alex De Minaur, a 12 months after overhauling the Australian 4-6 7-5 6-1 within the semi-finals.
“(We will) try to give to the fans around the world and the fans here in Australia a good show,” Nadal mentioned on Sunday in a preview of his Group B encounter.
“For some of the people who are suffering a lot at home, we will try to (provide) good entertainment for them.”
U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem, who gave Djokovic a scare in final 12 months’s Australian Open closing, tops the invoice on the John Cain Arena, previously generally known as Melbourne Arena, when the Austrian performs Italy’s world No. 10 Matteo Berrettini in Group C.
World quantity 4 Daniil Medvedev leads a robust Russian workforce with Andrey Rublev and can begin his event towards Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman with a Group D match within the evening session at John Cain.
Germany, Greece, France and Japan be a part of the fray on Wednesday.
World quantity seven Alexander Zverev, who crashed out of final 12 months with serving issues, leads Germany once more and can begin his event on Wednesday towards Shapovalov.