GB entry to ATP Cup will hinge on Murray
Deadline day next Friday for team competition Edmund and Evans not high enough in rankings
Will Great Britain be participating in tennis’s new $15million event – the ATP Cup – which launches in Australia on Jan 3? Much depends on Andy Murray, who must decide whether to enter by next Friday.
Should all go to plan, the ATP Cup could replace the Davis Cup as tennis’s pre-eminent team event. So, if Great Britain – one of the four grand-slam nations – were to go unrepresented among the 24 participants, it would be a huge embarrassment, not to mention a major earning opportunity missed.
It should not really have fallen to Murray to step in and save the nation. Had Kyle Edmund turned in a few more wins in a miserable season, or if Dan Evans were not still building back up to his natural level after his cocaine ban, then one of those men would probably have earned Great Britain entry themselves. As it is, there is little prospect of the team qualifying next week unless Murray uses his protected ranking of No2 in the world.
When the first wave of ATP Cup entries is confirmed next Friday, the organisers will count down the top 18 nationalities represented on the rankings list. So, Serbia qualifies as No1, thanks to Novak Djokovic, and Spain as No 2, thanks to Rafael Nadal. Should Murray enter, then Great Britain would nip in at No3, ahead of Switzerland at No4.
But what if Murray opts to play the simultaneous ATP event in Doha instead? Then the count goes on – and reaches 19 other nationalities before Edmund at No32 in the world. Georgia are in that list, and Bulgaria – thanks to the resurgence of US Open semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov – but no Britons at all.
“It would make sense for him to enter because then GB are in,” said Andy’s elder brother, Jamie, last week. “Even if he doesn’t play in the end, the country will still be in the tournament. If he doesn’t enter, the country doesn’t play.”
This is an awkward dilemma. Never the most decisive of sportsmen, the younger Murray is understood to have reservations about the ATP Cup. As Jamie points out, there is a possibility that he will not be performing well enough as a singles player by January to deserve selection.
Remember that Murray lost to world No240 Matteo Viola in Majorca a week ago, and left the court frustrated about how much more physical improvement he needs to make before he can compete at an elite level again. Admittedly, Murray would make a strong selection for the British doubles pairing at the ATP Cup. But during his most recent ATP event in Cincinnati last month, he stated: “Doubles is done for me for the time being. My goal is to get back playing at the level that I want to on the singles court, and I’ve decided that I need to focus all my energies on that right now.”
What Murray does not want to do is to spend the 10 days of the ATP Cup warming a bench when he could be making a strong start to his singles season. There is likely to be a hefty appearance fee on offer at the ATP event in Doha, as well as a relatively weak field that features next to no top-30 players because they are all in Australia.
Great Britain will get a second chance, even if it is a “no” from Murray. A second and final group of six more nations will gain entry to the ATP Cup on Nov 13, using the same method of counting down the rankings. But Edmund has plenty of points to defend between now and then, having won his one ATP title in Antwerp last October. To leave it to the last minute would be a risky business, which is why both Tennis Australia and the ATP hierarchy are keen to see Murray end the debate next week. Tonight’s men’s semi-finals in New York will see Rafael Nadal – the overwhelming favourite for the title – take on Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, while Dimitrov faces Russian marathon man Daniil Medvedev.