124 players were nominated to represent their country over the course of the inaugural ATP Cup in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney.
It is a team game after all but bare from the usual suspects, which individuals stood out?
Casper Ruud – Norway
Casper has been one of my favourite players to watch come up through the rankings over the last 12 months or so.
Even I was surprised by his start to the season but he really took the game to his opponents. His main weapon is his forehand and he was so strong in his wins against Fognini and Isner. He also showed incredible battle against Daniil Medvedev losing in a close two set battle.
Hubert Hurkacz – Poland
Herbert Hurkacz was one of the singles players who left with a 100% record.
Herbert really stood out around Indian Wells and Miami last year with some big wins and wasn’t afraid of that down in Sydney during the group stage.
The 22 year old will be one to watch this year, he has strong weapons and strikes the ball really well.
Across the four days he was there he bet Borna Coric in straight sets and Dominic Thiem and Diego Schwartzman from a set down.
Dusan Lajovic – Serbia
Throughout the event I have been a bit bored of headlines reading as ‘Djokovic seals win for Serbia’ because without Dusan Lajovic they wouldn’t have got there.
Wins against Lloyd Harris and Nicolas Jarry were expected from the Serb but he has really helped his team with impressive straight sets wins against Felix Auger-Aliassime and Karen Khachanov.
Yoshihito Nishioka – Japan
Japan were without Nishikori but had Nishioka instead. They never got out of the group stage but 24 year old did impress.
He was pretty ruthless in his straight sets wins against Basilashvili and Cuevas and gave Nadal something to think about.
Things do change in tennis quite quickly, Yoshihito is ranked at 68 in the world but this week is top seed in qualifying for a challenger event in Bendigo when the lowest ranked player in the main draw is ranked outside the top 900…
Diego Schwartzman – Argentina
I don’t think a match goes by in which Diego Schwartzman’s height isn’t mentioned, he is 1.7m tall. It is in fact a autofilled question on google search.
Anyway, I made an exception for Diego on this list. Four matches but one win for the Argentine. Like I said, it was who impressed and you can impress in defeat.
He won against Borna Coric but put on a good fight against Medvedev, Thiem and Hurkacz showing us he will be making some big noise in that 11-20 ranking this year.
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