The ATP Cup was an international outdoor

hard court A hardcourt (or hard court) is a surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. It is typically made of rigid materials such as asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic resins to seal the surface and ...

men's

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

team tournament, which ran from 2020 to 2022.The tournament was played across one or three Australian cities over ten days in the lead up to the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

, and featured teams from 12, 16 or 24 countries. The event was the first

ATP ATP may refer to: Companies and organizations * Association of Tennis Professionals, men's professional tennis governing body * American Technical Publishers, employee-owned publishing company * ', a Danish pension * Armenia Tree Project, non ...

team competition since the

ATP World Team Cup The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...

, which was held in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

from 1978 to 2012.

History

On 2 July 2018, ATP director

Chris Kermode Chris Kermode (born 13 January 1965) is a retired English male tennis player, a former tournament director and the executive chairman & president of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) from 2014 to 2019. On 20 November 2013 Kermode wa ...

announced that he had plans to organise a men's team tennis tournament in response to the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

changing their format six months earlier. The tournament at the time of the announcement had the name ''World Team Cup'', taking from the previous

World Team Cup The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...

that took place in

from 1978 to 2012. On 15 November, the ATP and

Tennis Australia Tennis Australia Limited is the governing body for Tennis in Australia. It is owned by Australian states and territories. The association organises national and international Tennis tournaments including the Australian Open, the Australian Open ...

announced that the tournament would be known as the ''ATP Cup'', with 24 teams playing at three cities in preparation for the

. Those cities would later be revealed to be Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, while the event's inclusion also forced the axing of the

Hopman Cup The Hopman Cup is an international eight-team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament that played mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis.It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, before being replaced on the calen ...

. The tournament took place in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, and

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, with Sydney the hosts of the quarter-finals onwards. In 2021, the tournament was deferred several weeks, and moved to

Melbourne Park Melbourne Park is a sports venue in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Since 1988 Australian Bicentenary, Australia's bicentenary, Melbourne Park has been home of the Austra ...

with 12 teams, due to the restrictions on domestic travel in Australia stemming from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The 2022 event would be held in Sydney with 16 teams as these restrictions were ongoing. Following the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, the ITF debarred Russia and Belarus from competing at the tournament. On 7 August 2022, as a result of all three editions being very poorly attended and riddled with logistical issues, along with heavy financial losses, and disdain for the event from fans, players - particularly women's players - and officials, Tennis Australia announced that the ATP Cup would be shut down, to be replaced by a mixed-gender

United Cup The United Cup is an international hard court tennis tournament featuring mixed-gender teams from 18 countries. The first event was held in December 2022 through January 2023. The tournament is played across three Australian cities over 11 day ...

from 2023.

Qualification

The teams that participated in the Cup were determined by the singles ranking of their best player. In the week after the US Open, 18 teams were announced, based on the best player singles ranking. For a country to qualify, it had to have at least three players with ATP ranking, and two of them with singles ranking. The next six teams were announced the week of the

ATP Finals The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results th ...

. If the host did not qualify on the first deadline of September, it would be awarded a wild card, leaving only five spots for the November deadline.

Tournament

The format saw 24 teams divided into six groups of four teams each. The teams faced in ties composed of two singles matches and one doubles match. The match between the No. 2 of each team opened the tie, then the No.1 of each team, and the doubles match closing the tie. The doubles match would be played regardless whether the tie is decided or not. The winner from each group was joined by the two best second placed teams in the quarterfinals of the tournament for three knock-out rounds, culminating in the champion being crowned.

Finals

Results by nation

References

External links

Official website
{{Tennis box ATP Cup Tennis tournaments in Australia Hard court tennis tournaments ATP Tour Recurring sporting events established in 2020 2020 establishments in Oceania Sports competitions in Brisbane Sports competitions in Perth, Western Australia Sports competitions in Sydney Annual sporting events in Australia International men's tennis team competitions Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2022 2022 disestablishments in Oceania