Team Emageo was in the room when the ATP Cup Draw was held this morning, as the world’s best players found out where they would be starting their 2020.
A video link from the Sydney Opera House allowed those at the event in Perth at Fraser’s in Kings Park to see the teams being placed in groups live. The 19 countries already qualified for the inaugural staging of the new tournament were each assigned to one of six groups across the three host cities.
Australian legends Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe, Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt took part in the ceremony for the January 3-12 event.
The world’s top three players Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were all sent to different States, with Serbia drawn for Brisbane, Spain for Perth and Switzerland for Sydney.
Also headed for Perth in Spain’s Group B is Japan and Georgia, with one more country to be added after the November qualification deadline. In Perth’s Group D is Russia, led by Nadal’s US Open final opponent Daniil Medvedev, Italy, the USA, with one more to be added.
The Wildcard Australians, who will feature Team Emageo’s John Peers, are bound for Brisbane where they are part of a stacked Group F that also includes Germany, Greece and Canada.
Alongside Serbia in Group A is France and South Africa, with one more country to be added.
In Sydney’s Group C alongside the Swiss is Belgium, and Great Britain, with Andy Murray’s protective ranking seeing them qualify.
Also in Sydney in Group E is Austria, Croatia and Argentina with the fourth yet to be decided.
Speaking at the Perth event, Geoff Masters predicted the Australians had what it took to win the title, while Sam Groth believed France would be the team to beat thanks to their depth.
The schedule was released later in the day and can be found here.