So for everyone who's been hating on ATP Cup...

[The Guru]

Just stop. People who were saying you'd rather watch Pune, Sydney, and Doha... just lol. This has been awesome. So many top players competing. Team competitions are so much fun. Stop comparing it to what the Davis Cup used to be. It's not the Davis Cup. But it's awesome. Anyone who watched the Australia-Great Britain tie is lying if they say that wasn't some of the most entertaining non-slam tennis they've seen in recent years and that's really something given no top 20 players were even in competition.

 

[weakera]

It's very boring, a failed experiment and yes I watched the little tiebreaker.

 

[The Guru]

It's very boring, a failed experiment and yes I watched the little tiebreaker.

And life was better 100 years ago and the special effects in Star Wars peaked in a New Hope. I'm sorry but anyone who enjoys watching intense quality tennis cannot say this is worse than ****ing Pune, Doha, and Sydney. There's just absolutely no way to justify that.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Absolutely epic matches today between Australia and Great Britain. I was on the edge of my seat.

However, the crowd was half empty, many players didn’t get to play this week because of this new format and only one other tournament being held in Doha. I think the ATP Cup was needed and is good to watch but shouldn’t have replaced the Brisbane tournament and Hopman Cup. Brisbane and Perth were regular sell outs and this year were half empty, I went to Chile v Serbia yesterday and was stunned how empty Pat Rafter Arena was, in years past it’s packed for players like Nadal, Barty, Kyrgios, Raonic. But with small countries like Moldova and Chile, far less interest. This change benefitted Sydney greatly as their men’s tournament was always week due to it being the week before the slam, now they get the worlds best men. However it’s screwed over Perth and Brisbane massively.

 

[FreeBird]

Kyrgios Nadal coming next match. Possibly in doubles too. For Kyrgios, more chances to hit nadal.

 

[Got Aced]

It's very boring, a failed experiment and yes I watched the little tiebreaker.

Sounds like someone isn't happy that Australia won

 

[weakera]

Sounds like someone isn't happy that Australia won

I have zero emotional investment in this tournament lol

 

[BeatlesFan]

I have zero emotional investment in this tournament lol

You should, there’s 750 possible points to an undefeated player in singles and Rafa’s only 800 points in front of Novak for the #1 ranking.

 

[junior74]

I've liked it. Lots of good matches and a good format when there's points to be won

 

[tata]

Saw the doubles breaker between aus and GB and I was invested. Trading match points. Was on the edge of my seat. Good seeing nick engaged and fired up.

 

[weakera]

You should, there’s 750 possible points to an undefeated player in singles and Rafa’s only 800 points in front of Novak for the #1 ranking.

Not significant at all. When both win QF they will be nearly dead even in points from the tournament, from there on there are max ~430 points on the table, 250 if both are in the final. So we're really straining to find some significance in this clown show if those points are supposed to make people care.

 

[Deleted member 763691]

ATP Cup is the best thing that ever happened to tennis.
The patriotism of Davis Cup, plus big ranking points

 

[Tennis_Hands]

And life was better 100 years ago and the special effects in Star Wars peaked in a New Hope. I'm sorry but anyone who enjoys watching intense quality tennis cannot say this is worse than ****ing Pune, Doha, and Sydney. There's just absolutely no way to justify that.

The comparison with the special effects in the old trilogies Star Wars is a very good one. I remember when they came out, they were ground breaking experience, where the SE were just a means to an end. The newer trilogies, while having much better special effects are devoid of any meaningful content as far as ideas are concerned: the parallel between the old and "the new" DC is amazing.

 

[ChrisRF]

Stop comparing it to what the Davis Cup used to be. It's not the Davis Cup. But it's awesome.

Davis Cup was never interesting as well. Even when Federer won it in 2014 it wasn’t more than a footnote for me. Tennis just isn’t a team sport.

I would be interested in a Nadal/Djokovic encounter in the final and I somewhat found the Zverev showings entertaining, but that’s all.

Still I watch some matches. Better having tennis than having no tennis.

 

[ibbi]

What is the difference between it and the new Davis Cup?

Also, are they both not just truncated forms of the original Davis Cup? Like One Day Cricket for people who can't sit through Test Cricket?

 

[Hitman]

All I can say is

Kyrgios comes alive in these team events.

 

[accidental]

It’s been good on tv, but actually attending hasn’t been that great. As a spectator, you’re lucky to get 1 good match out of the 3. With the qualifying format there are several teams with 1 strong player and 1 player nobody would ever put on centre court. The other day I sat through 2 hours of Cameron Norris vs some guy ranked 800 from Bulgaria.

It’s like a poor quality Aus open centre court session. I miss going to a real tournament where there are multiple courts and multiple matches to choose from.

Still, in Sydney there hasn’t been players of this quality playing real matches for about 20 years.

 

[blablavla]

ATP Cup is the best thing that ever happened to tennis.
The patriotism of Davis Cup, plus big ranking points

plus 18 Mio in prize money?

 

[tonylg]

It’s been good on tv, but actually attending hasn’t been that great. As a spectator, you’re lucky to get 1 good match out of the 3. With the qualifying format there are several teams with 1 strong player and 1 player nobody would ever put on centre court. The other day I sat through 2 hours of Cameron Norris vs some guy ranked 800 from Bulgaria.

It’s like a poor quality Aus open centre court session. I miss going to a real tournament where there are multiple courts and multiple matches to choose from.

Still, in Sydney there hasn’t been players of this quality playing real matches for about 20 years.

Brisbane round robin was good. Australia, Canada, Greece, Germany (poor Sasha), France and South Africa. There was also a WTA tournament on the outside courts, plus epic ATP practice sessions for when a country like Chile or Serbia were stinking up the stadium.

Looking at Argentina v Russia a little while ago, I can see that even though we were saddled with Chile and Serbia, we had it pretty good here.

 

[octobrina10]

ATP Cup is the best thing that ever happened to tennis.
The patriotism of Davis Cup, plus big ranking points

Players received ATP ranking points for winning Davis Cup matches from 2009 until 2016.

It depends on the ATP officials whether or not ATP ranking points are awarded.

 

[octobrina10]

What is the difference between it and the new Davis Cup?

Also, are they both not just truncated forms of the original Davis Cup? Like One Day Cricket for people who can't sit through Test Cricket?

The format of the ATP Cup is almost identical to that of the Davis Cup Finals held in Madrid in November 2019.

The difference is that players are named in the Davis Cup team by their country's tennis federation/association (that is a member of the ITF), but the ATP Cup teams have been created by the ATP, based on the players' ranking, and the teams have no connection with the tennis organisations of respective countries.
It looks like the ITF and ATP officials are competing with each other.

 

[Deleted member 763691]

Doubles has no AD-scoring in ATP Cup, and plays a match tiebreaker instead of 3rd Set

 

[BeatlesFan]

Not significant at all. When both win QF they will be nearly dead even in points from the tournament, from there on there are max ~430 points on the table, 250 if both are in the final. So we're really straining to find some significance in this clown show if those points are supposed to make people care.

Of course if Nadal defeats Djokovic in the final, the chances of you sticking to your "this is a clown show with no relevance" script hovers around 0%. The format and the event might suck, but it's a significant match if those two play just 2 weeks before the AO.

 

[CosmosMpower]

Anytime I can see Paire implode I'll watch it, don't care what tourney it is.

 

[Dedans Penthouse]

. .So for everyone who's been hating on the ATP cup...

Just stop.

. .ok

.

 

[StrongRule]

So far I didn't even watch it, and I find it extremely annoying that Nadal is playing it. He can't get ANYTHING positive from this tournament, but can lose a lot. What if he gets injured now before AO?

 

[HetTheGreaterer]

Of course if Nadal defeats Djokovic in the final, the chances of you sticking to your "this is a clown show with no relevance" script hovers around 0%. The format and the event might suck, but it's a significant match if those two play just 2 weeks before the AO.

The nadal which showed up against Nishikoa isn't taking down Djok

 

[Jonesy]

The nadal which showed up against Nishikoa isn't taking down Djok

Nadal really mugged a bit against the asian kid for no reason at all.

 

[guitarra]

For me it's too much team competitions in too short period of time. In December we had the new Davis Cup now ATP Cup. Tennis is mainly the individual sport and should stay this way. I have a feeling that players who participated in both events and went deep might experience some problems later in the season cause that changed the dynamics of their off-season preparations completely.

 

[weakera]

Of course if Nadal defeats Djokovic in the final, the chances of you sticking to your "this is a clown show with no relevance" script hovers around 0%. The format and the event might suck, but it's a significant match if those two play just 2 weeks before the AO.

If Nadal and Djokovic played anywhere, with q-tips instead of rackets, I'd be watching. Yet one Djokodal match doesn't change a damn thing about ATP Cup being a joke of an event.

 

[Deleted member 763691]

Non-tennis fans take more of an interest in the ATP Cup than they would any other pre-AO tournament, that is for sure.
That's how you create new tennis fans
Because the players are representing their country, it brings people into tennis for reasons of patriotism, and those people may not have even watched the AO.

 

[BGod]

I really wonder about these start times if they're for the North American audience. I mean they start matches at 10am local time.

 

[soundofatrain]

The comparison with the special effects in the old trilogies Star Wars is a very good one. I remember when they came out, they were ground breaking experience, where the SE were just a means to an end. The newer trilogies, while having much better special effects are devoid of any meaningful content as far as ideas are concerned: the parallel between the old and "the new" DC is amazing.

The Mandalorian is epic !

 

[The Guru]

. .So for everyone who's been hating on the ATP cup...

. .ok

.

Lmao. Brilliant argumentation.

 

[Ray Mercer]

The big issue is you get a lot of bum players and no Federer. That’s enough to kill a tournament.

 

[atatu]

Jaime Murray must be kicking himself this morning after that tiebreaker.

 

[coolboarder]

I really wonder about these start times if they're for the North American audience. I mean they start matches at 10am local time.

For me, in Pacific time zone, it's 3pm start in Sydney and 4pm start in Brisbane and 6pm start for Perth so it's all good here unless someone is working and might not get home until 5pm or so but not missing a tie entirely, perfect timing for east coast as well with 6-7 pm start with exception of Perth sessions. As for evening session it's no good, it's too late for us to watch an evening sessions.

 

[Rogfan]

Absolutely epic matches today between Australia and Great Britain. I was on the edge of my seat.

However, the crowd was half empty, many players didn’t get to play this week because of this new format and only one other tournament being held in Doha. I think the ATP Cup was needed and is good to watch but shouldn’t have replaced the Brisbane tournament and Hopman Cup. Brisbane and Perth were regular sell outs and this year were half empty, I went to Chile v Serbia yesterday and was stunned how empty Pat Rafter Arena was, in years past it’s packed for players like Nadal, Barty, Kyrgios, Raonic. But with small countries like Moldova and Chile, far less interest. This change benefitted Sydney greatly as their men’s tournament was always week due to it being the week before the slam, now they get the worlds best men. However it’s screwed over Perth and Brisbane massively.

All cities can not win. Sydney had been the loser for years due to Hopman Cup and Brisbane. About time we shine. Remember we got screwed too because of Fed and Murray’s withdrawal. Group stage was rather bad in Sydney too

 

[toby55555]

Kyrgios certainly revels in the format. As Petch astutely pointed out he isn’t alone with his own thoughts at the changeovers, he’s exchanging banter with team mates and getting lots of encouragement.

 

[roger presley]

I've liked it. Lots of good matches and a good format when there's points to be won

Same here, like it more than Davis Cup in this new format.

 

[roger presley]

ATP Cup is the best thing that ever happened to tennis.
The patriotism of Davis Cup, plus big ranking points

Agree!

 

[2ndServe]

Just stop. People who were saying you'd rather watch Pune, Sydney, and Doha... just lol. This has been awesome. So many top players competing. Team competitions are so much fun. Stop comparing it to what the Davis Cup used to be. It's not the Davis Cup. But it's awesome. Anyone who watched the Australia-Great Britain tie is lying if they say that wasn't some of the most entertaining non-slam tennis they've seen in recent years and that's really something given no top 20 players were even in competition.

I disliked the idea, but it's been insane competition when you've got guys like Kyrios and Paire going all out, it's easy to let yourself down but you can't tank when your mates on the sideline depending on you. I actually like it better than Laver Cup

 

[Aussie Darcy]

All cities can not win. Sydney had been the loser for years due to Hopman Cup and Brisbane. About time we shine. Remember we got screwed too because of Fed and Murray’s withdrawal. Group stage was rather bad in Sydney too

2 cities winning is better than one. Also you guys couldn’t even get a full crowd from Australia v Great Britain. How disgraceful, I was watching the De Minaur match and then the doubles match and was stunned at all the empty seats. At least we sold out Australia’s matches, maybe Sydney just doesn’t deserve the tennis.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Non-tennis fans take more of an interest in the ATP Cup than they would any other pre-AO tournament, that is for sure.
That's how you create new tennis fans
Because the players are representing their country, it brings people into tennis for reasons of patriotism, and those people may not have even watched the AO.

Unfortunately just not true. Perth crowd numbers literally halved from Hopman Cup last year to ATP Cup this year. Brisbane had to give away free tickets to Serbia, Chile and South Africa sessions and Sydney’s crowds look desolate.

 

[tonylg]

2 cities winning is better than one. Also you guys couldn’t even get a full crowd from Australia v Great Britain. How disgraceful, I was watching the De Minaur match and then the doubles match and was stunned at all the empty seats. At least we sold out Australia’s matches, maybe Sydney just doesn’t deserve the tennis.

I agree with this. Sydney got better group matches than Perth, but there's no excuse for failing to sell out Australia v GB.

Unfortunately just not true. Perth crowd numbers literally halved from Hopman Cup last year to ATP Cup this year. Brisbane had to give away free tickets to Serbia, Chile and South Africa sessions and Sydney’s crowds look desolate.

I do think there's truth in ATP Cup attracking non-tennis fans though. I think the Serbian ties were full of drunken soccer fans.

 

[Rogfan]

2 cities winning is better than one. Also you guys couldn’t even get a full crowd from Australia v Great Britain. How disgraceful, I was watching the De Minaur match and then the doubles match and was stunned at all the empty seats. At least we sold out Australia’s matches, maybe Sydney just doesn’t deserve the tennis.

I take it as you didn’t know Ken Rosewall Arena is double the size of Pat Rafter. Easy to fill a small stadium

 

[Shaolin]

Anytime I can see Paire implode I'll watch it, don't care what tourney it is.

He implodes every match. It's just boring at this point. I saw him play live in 2013 and he never shut up the whole match, continuous complaining/b*tching even on the changeovers. I like his game but he needs to turn his collar down, learn a forehand and stfu.

 

[Tennisfan339]

I have mixed feelings about the ATP cup. Still needs time to get used to it.
Kyrgios/Tsitsipas, DeMinaur/Zverev and Djokovic/Shapopalov were all incredible matches, though.
The Davis Cup was SOO boring. At least the ATP cup gives ranking points. & I always love the tourmanents in Australia. Some positive points at least.

 

[The Guru]

I have mixed feelings about the ATP cup. Still needs time to get used to it.
Kyrgios/Tsitsipas, DeMinaur/Zverev and Djokovic/Shapopalov were all incredible matches, though.
The Davis Cup was SOO boring. At least the ATP cup gives ranking points. & I always love the tourmanents in Australia. Some positive points at least.

De Minaur/Evans best match of the tournament so far imo

 

[Deleted member 763691]

Unfortunately just not true. Perth crowd numbers literally halved from Hopman Cup last year to ATP Cup this year. Brisbane had to give away free tickets to Serbia, Chile and South Africa sessions and Sydney’s crowds look desolate.

That's because the best players are spread over several locations, but the total impact of the ATP Cup is gigantic compared to the Hopman Cup or any other non-slam for that matter....
The popularity of tennis will increase thanks to the widespread excitement surrounding the ATP Cup
And the players are treating it like a slam, because of the massive ranking points available if you win all your matches, so the level of tennis is outstanding.