The Spaniard leads the Spanish bloc in the new team competition to be held in Australia from Thursday
Rafa Nadal will compete again this week in the United Cup of Australia, the new team competition that replaces the ATP Cup and adds the novelty of a mixed tournament. The new format is similar to the old Hopman Cup (which also returns, but in Nice in July), albeit with more entrants and with the big claim of a Nadal returning to the competition for the first time since the last ATP Finals. in the who fell in the group stage.
The Spaniard will test himself here from December 29 to January 8 in the run-up to an Australian Open in which he will defend the title won last year. Nadal puts 2,000 points on the line in Melbourne (January 16-29) and will face fierce competition this year, with the return of Novak Djokovic, nine-time champion in Australia and with the green light to play, the evolution of Carlos Alcaraz, number one of the world and who defends last year’s third round, alongside Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev…
This will be Djokovic’s first time to match the Balearic Islands’ 22 Grand Slams, having failed to compete in New York due to his non-vaccination, and will be Alcaraz’s first time competing in a Grand Slam draw. as champion of one.
The Murcian, yes, will not play a tournament ahead of Australia and will therefore not participate in the United Cup, where Nadal will be joined by Paula Badosa, as leaders of the Spanish team, in addition to Pablo Carreño, Albert Ramos, David Vega, Nuria Parrizas and Jessica Bouzas.
The captain, Marc López, has decided that these are the seven members of the Spanish team, from the maximum nine places available. The tournament consists of six groups of three teams each, with a total of 18 teams qualified based on the ranking of their best players.
Spain is in Group D with Australia of Nick Kyrgios, Alex de Miñaur and Ajla Tomljanovic and Great Britain of Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans. Each match consists of two boys’ singles, two girls’ singles and one mixed doubles. Spain’s first confrontation will be against Britain in the early hours of December 31.
Nadal will face Norrie, whom he has beaten four times without dropping a set, and Parrizas, Katie Swan, whom he lost on hard court this year, before Paula Badosa meets Paula Badosa on January 1. Harriet Dart, who defeated him in the last Billie Jean King Cup Finals and Pablo Carreño to Dan Evans. Mixed doubles has yet to be determined.
The second day for Spain is on January 2, culminating in the confrontation between Nick Kyrgios and Rafa Nadal. It will be the tenth clash between the two, with 6-3 in favor of the man from Manacor. This match will be followed by Parrizas-Zoe Hives and Badosa-Tomljanovic, Carreño-De Miñaur and mixed doubles will be played on January 3.
The United Cup is played in three venues: Sydney (where Spain play), Perth and Brisbane, with each city hosting two groups. The winner of each group will compete against the winner of the other group from the same city for a place in the semi-finals.
The tournament will distribute a total of 15 million euros, of which 7.5 million will go to the boys and 7.5 million to the girls, so that prizes will range from 38,000 euros for individual victory in the group stage to 251,000 euros in the final. As for the points, they will depend on the position of the opponent. Winning a ‘top ten’ in the group stage earns 55 points, while in the final the loot goes up to 180. The maximum number of points that can be collected in the tournament is 500, as if it were an ATP 500.
Group A includes Greece, Belgium and Bulgaria; in Group B, Poland, Switzerland and Kazakhstan; in Group C, the United States, Germany and the Czech Republic; in Group D, Spain, Australia and Great Britain; in Group E, Italy, Brazil and Norway; and in Group F, France, Croatia and Argentina.
Carlos Alcaraz will be number one when the next Australian Open starts yes or yes. The Murcian, despite the fact that he will not play any tournament before the start of the first Grand Slam of the year, has an income of 800 points against Rafa Nadal in the ATP standings, enough to guarantee him first place until Australia .
The Spaniard has put in a tournament in his preparation for Melbourne, the United Cup, in which he can score a maximum of 500 points. Depending on the format of the tournament, the distribution of points will vary depending on the round and depending on the ranking of the opponent. Nadal, who plays his two group stage matches against Cameron Norrie (14) and Nick Kyrgios (22), will be able to add up 45 and 40 points against each respectively.
At best, Nadal could narrow the difference in the United Cup to 300 points, but then the Spaniard would lose 250 points for winning the pre-season in Melbourne, restoring Alcaraz’s lead.
Number one is no longer an obsession for Nadal, so the biggest threat to Carlitos is a Novak Djokovic who is currently 2,000 points behind Murcia but has the advantage of not defending a single point from last season. The Serb starts the year in Adelaide (January 2), where he can add up 250 points, before going on the offensive at his tenth Australian Open, where he can collect a whopping 2,000 points.
Alcaraz’s trump card is that he only reached the third round in 2022, which means he has 90 points in his locker. A relatively easy brand to beat.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
