Why is the ATP Cup going to succeed? Exploring the origins of this betting competition
In this brief guide to tennis betting, there are several factors to highlight:
the first is that unlike the Davis Cup or the predecessor Hopman Cup, which did not award ATP ranking points, the ATP Cup instead provides a good allocation of points. Especially depending on performance and results during the ten-day tournament. Depending on their results, players can accumulate up to 750 ranking points if they win the tournament without suffering a single defeat.
The second is that the national team format is very appealing to fans. TV audiences have shown that after hundreds of individual tournaments throughout the year, also in the women’s tennis season 2020, when there is a different tournament, the public welcomes it.
And of course, the third strong point of this tournament is that during the month of December there have been hardly any tennis matches and there is a great demand from the fans to see good matches at the first grand slam of the year.
The teams participating in the ATP Cup
The 24 countries participating in the tournament have been selected according to the ATP rankings, based on each country’s No. 1 ranking. Of the 24 teams, the top 18 are seeded in the week following the US Open, while the bottom six are seeded at the end of the season, after the official ATP schedule is completed.
If the host nation fails to qualify, it gets a wildcard. Obviously, this was not the case for hosts Australia, who thanks to Alex De Minaur’s strong performance in 2019, finishing 2019 in 18th place in the rankings, officially qualified.
The betting favourites
Among the big favourites for the tennis betting odds, our Rafa Nadal, ranked number one in the world, stands out. Along with the nineteen-time Slam winner, “the armada” will be formed by Roberto Bautista Agut and Pablo Carreño Busta, respectively number 9 and number 27 in the ATP ranking. The other team to watch is Nole Djokovic’s Serbia, who will take on the ATP Cup alongside Dušan Lajović and Nikola Milojevic.
Italy are also in the mix, having taken off thanks to Fabio Fognini’s No. 12 ranking, who is joined in Australia by Stefano Travaglia (No. 84) and Alessandro Giannessi (No. 148 ATP).
The Russia that struggled to beat in the David, led by Medvedev and Khachanov, will also be a tough opponent. The United States, represented by Isner, Fritz and Opelka also appear up in the betting, as do hosts Australia.
ATP Cup prize money
The team that wins the tournament can smile, and not just because of the ranking points, but because the total prize money is fifteen million Euros. A figure that is nowhere near the Wimbledon total of 40 million (both men and women), but exceeds that of many ATP 1000 tournaments such as Rome, which in 2019 provided a total prize money of approximately 9 million.