2020 Here We Go!

ATP Cup, Doha; WTA Auckland, Brisbane, Shenzhen

Google maps uses now a flat map! Boo.

After a pretty long wait tennis starts again. We get a team event and an ATP 250 for the guys and a Premier and two Internationals for the gals

ATP Cup: Brisbane, Perth, Sydney

24 teams competing in 3 venues over 10 days. 

Brisbane

Story Bridge

Group A:
Serbia - Novak Djokovic, Dusan Lajovic, Nikola Milojevic, Nikola Cacic, Viktor Troicki;
Captain: Nenad Zimonjic
France - Gael Monfils, Benoit Paire, Gilles Simon, Nicolas Mahut, Edouard Roger-Vasselin;
Captain: Gilles Simon
South Africa - Kevin Anderson, Lloyd Harris, Ruan Roelofse, Raven Klaasen, Khololwam Montsi;
Captain: Jeff Coetzee
Chile - Cristian Garin, Nicolas Jarry, Alejandro Tabilo, Hans Podlipnik-Castillo, Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera;
Captain: Paul Capdeville

Group F:
Germany - Alexander Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff, Mats Moraing, Kevin Krawietz, Andreas Mies;
Captain: Boris Becker
Greece - Stefanos Tsitsipas, Michail Pervolarakis, Markos Kalovelonis, Petros Tsitsipas, Alexandros Skorilas;
Captain: Apostolos Tsitsipas
Canada - Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Steven Diez, Adil Shamasdin, Peter Polansky;
Captain: Adriano Fuorivia
Australia - Alex de Minaur, Nick Kyrgios, John Millman, John Peers, Chris Guccione;
Captain: Lleyton Hewitt

Perth

Elizabeth Quay Bridge (pedestrian, from above)

Group B:
Spain - Rafael Nadal, Roberto Bautista Agut, Pablo Carreno Busta, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Feliciano Lopez;
Captain: Francisco Roig
Japan - Yoshihito Nishioka, Go Soeda, Ben McLachlan, Toshihide Matsui;
Captain: Satoshi Iwabuchi
Georgia - Nikoloz Basilashvili, Aleksandre Metreveli, George Tsitvadze, Aleksandre Bakshi, Zura Tkemaladze;
Captain: David Kvernadze
Uruguay - Pablo Cuevas, Martin Cuevas, Ariel Behar, Franco Roncadelli, Juan Martin Fumeaux;
Captain: Felipe Maccio

Group D:
Russia - Daniil Medvedev, Karen Khachanov, Teymuraz Gabashvili, Ivan Nedelko, Konstantin Kravchuk;
Captain: Marat Safin
Italy - Fabio Fognini, Stefano Travaglia, Simone Bolelli, Paolo Lorenzi, Alessandro Giannessi;
Captain: Alberto Giraudo
USA - John Isner, Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Rajeev Ram, Austin Krajicek;
Captain: David Macpherson
Norway - Casper Ruud, Viktor Durasovic, Lukas Hellum Lilleengen, Herman Hoeyeraal, Leyton Rivera;
Captain: Christian Ruud

Sydney

Sydney Harbor Bridge

Group C:
Belgium - David Goffin, Steve Darcis, Kimmer Coppejans, Sander Gille, Joran Vliegen;
Captain: Steve Darcis
Great Britain - Daniel Evans, Cameron Norrie, James Ward, Joe Salisbury, Jamie Murray;
Captain: Tim Henman
Bulgaria - Grigor Dimitrov, Dimitar Kuzmanov, Alexandar Lazarov, Alexander Donski, Adrian Andreev;
Captain: Grigor Dimitrov
Moldova - Radu Albot, Alexander Cozbinov, Egor Matvievici, Dmitrii Baskov;
Captain: Vladimir Albot

Group E:
Austria - Dominic Thiem, Dennis Novak, Sebastian Ofner, Oliver Marach, Jurgen Melzer;
Captain: Thomas Muster
Croatia - Borna Coric, Marin Cilic, Viktor Galovic, Ivan Dodig, Nikola Mektic;
Captain: Luka Kutanjac
Argentina - Diego Schwartzman, Guido Pella, Juan Ignacio Londero, Maximo Gonzalez, Andres Molteni;
Captain: Gaston Gaudio
Poland - Hubert Hurkacz, Kamil Majchrzak, Kacper Zuk, Lukasz Kubot, Wojciech Marek;
Captain: Marcin Matkowski

DRAW

OOP

Serbia - had to go with the selfie, it's 2020, you know...

Qatar Exxon Mobil Open, Doha

Lusail Pedestrian Bridge

ATP 250. So the players that failed to qualify for the ATP Cup (or chose to not go there?) get this tournament instead. The Man is here, so that makes this instantly more important than that ATP Cup. He's top seed and he's joined by Rublev, Tsonga, Raonic, Djere, Krajinovic, Mannarino, The Tiaf. 1st four seeds have byes.

DRAW
DOUBLES DRAW
OOP

Andrey Rublev - "Look! Even better than The Maltese Falcon!"

 

Brisbane International

Kurilpa Pedestrian Bridge

WTA Premier (470 points). This one has a lot of big names in it! All the more laughable that they're all relegated to secondary courts no matter who they are because of the ATP Cup (maybe they changed this, but that was the original plan). Top two seeds have byes: Barty and Pliskova. The remaining six seeds are Osaka, Svitolina, Kvitova, Bertens, Konta and Keys. Who else is here? Kerber v Stosur, Hsieh v Kontaveit, Kenin v Sevastova, Stephens, Vekic, Riske v Muchova. A lot of great 1st round matches!

DRAW
DOUBLES DRAW
OOP

Karolina Pliskova - Her 3rd Brisbane trophy. That trophy case shelf looks boring already...

ASB Classic 2020, Auckland

Auckland Harbor Bridge

WTA International (280 points). They got Serena top seed! No byes in Internationals so she drew Kuznetsova! Oldies but goldies, right? The other seven seeds are Martic, Anisimova, Goerges, Wozniacki, Peterson, Ostapenko, Garcia. We get to see a lot of Americans here: Gauff, Townsend, McHale, Davis, Pegula, and Bellis! AVU, CSN v Kasatkina are here too.

DRAW
DOUBLES DRAW
OOP

Serena Williams - Bad news! Kid no longer fits inside cup!

Shenzhen Open

Shenzen Bay Bridge

WTA International (280 points). Another pretty good gathering of talents. The seeds are Bencic, Sabalenka, Mertens, Wang, Alexandrova, Muguruza, Rybakina, Zhang. We get the full set of Wangs, (alongside Q there are Y, X1 and X2, Jeez this sounds like math!). Also here Cirstea, The Lesser Pliskova, Tsurenko, Siniakova, Sasnovich and Diyas.

DRAW
DOUBLES DRAW
OOP

Ekaterina Alexandrova - 1st title of her career! Needed a bigger smile!