THE little country of Georgia will need to produce the biggest upset run of all time to go deep in the 2022 ATP Cup, but stranger things have happened. The European nation that houses less than four million people has earned a place at the team event in January following a successful year from the star talent, but will be punching well above their weight in the tournament.

2022 GEORGIA TEAM

Nikoloz Basilashvili
Aleksandre Metreveli
Aleksandre Baskshi
Zura Tkemaladze
Saba Purtseladze

Basilashvili had an impressive 2021 year, and capped off a nice finish with an Indian Wells final. Boasting a career-high 16th in the world back in May, 2019, Basilashvili is now ranked 22nd and sneaks his nation into the tournament as the second lowest seeded side. Though the United States are ranked lower – due to Taylor Fritz‘s top ranking of 23rd – that far larger nation has three players inside the Top 30, whereas for Georgia, it is Basilashvili and then a team of unknowns.

Georgia would be a hard team to plan for given only one player – Metreveli – has won any ATP Tour matches. He has a career-high ranking of 264th in the world, and has won two of his six matches. His career peak came back in June, 2016, and now Metreveli is ranked 569th in the world. As the next most experienced player behind Basilashvili, Metrevli will face off against the second singles players of the opposing sides. Luckily, the three other sides do not have a great deal of depth either, with Greece’s Michail Pervolarakis and Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak both lowly ranked players, and Argentina’s Federico Delbonis the pick of the group’s second players.

The 24-year-old Bakshi is yet to play on the ATP Tour and is ranked 848th in the world, whilst Tkemaladze and Purtseladze are outside the Top 1000. Chances are, Basilashvili and Metreveli will also team up in the doubles. It is hard to see Georgia progressing through to the next stage, with perhaps Poland the best chance of an upset. Basilashvili could knock off Hubert Hurkacz and the rest of the side is not overly strong, but Argentina has the best depth, and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas should guide his team through the doubles as well.

Prediction: 4th in Group D