ATP Cup: who is ahead in terms of doubles?
At the ATP Cup starting on Tuesday (live on Sky and ServusTV), doubles will also play a major role. Germany is very well positioned with Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies .
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jan 30, 2021, 10:06 am
At first glance, two teams are clearly one step ahead when it comes to doubles at the ATP Cup: On the one hand there is the German selection, which can fall back on the two-time French Open champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies. And France also seems to be extremely well positioned with the two specialists Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. The German Davis Cup boss Michael Kohlmann basically sees it that way.
"Kevin and Andi can be a pound," said the German Head of Men's Tennis on Thursday at sportradio360 . "However, if you have the results from last year in mind, one must not forget that it is not easy when it then comes against a Djokovic or Nadal to win the double." In fact, had Novak Djokovic at the premiere of the ATP Cup 2020 won the decisive point in the final against Spain with Viktor Troicki. Not against Rafael Nadal, however. The Spanish doubles were contested a little over a year ago by Feliciano Lopez and Pablo Carreno Busta. And: Djokovic / Troicki also defeated Mahut / Roger-Vasselin in the group stage.
Zverev 2020 with three defeats
Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka showed that two single players can also succeed in doubles in the Davis Cup final against the French in 2014. The two Olympic champions from 2008 got the important second point with the three-set success against Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet (admittedly: no pure pair skating specialists either). The Swiss are known to be absent from the ATP Cup.
The Austrians are there, where the two veterans Philipp Oswald and Tristan-Samuel Weißborn are nominated. The fact that top man Dominic Thiem does the Djokovic here and also competes in the third match against Italy or France seems rather doubtful.
Germany has probably drawn the most difficult group with Serbia and Canada, not only according to Alexander Zverev . "If we win an individual, then we're actually good at it," said Michael Kohlmann, once again emphasizing the role of "Kramies". “You can trust the team a lot. Last year, however, it didn't work out to get out of the starting blocks. ”Back then, front man Zverev had lost all three singles: against Alex de Minaur, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Denis Shapovalov. Against the Canadian he has to play this year.