THE United States was a late call-up to the ATP Cup, and are far from easy beats given their depth and a couple of Top 30 players. Though they enter the tournament as the lowest ranked nation in their group, they could pick up some second singles, and possibly doubles wins.

2022 USA TEAM

Taylor Fritz
John Isner
Brandon Nakashima
Rajeev Ram
Austin Krajicek

The United States as a whole are ageing rapidly, with three of the five players in the side aged 30 and above, and two of them 36 and 37. They are stalwarts Isner and Ram who lead the singles and doubles respectively, but the inclusion of Nakashima is a breath of fresh air for the USA. The 20-year-old Next-Gen talent is making his debut at the tournament alongside the regular faces of Isner, Fritz, Ram and Krajicek.

Though Nakashima is likely the backup for singles, it would be fantastic to see him given a chance to represent his nation and get some fresh blood in the USA side. Ram and Krajicek are a strong doubles combination, though their 2020 ATP Cup was one to forget. They lost all three matches, including Norway when the specialist doubles combination capitulated against Casper Ruud and Viktor Durasovic. They also lost to Russia and Italy, with Fritz only beating Durasovic, the doubles pairing winning against Russian singles specialists Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov.

In 2022, the United States have made it into the smaller 16-team group stage, but have landed in a “Group of Death”. Germany, Canada and Great Britain all have in-form players across both singles and doubles, that it is near impossible to see the United States winning a game. They would need to be at their absolute best, but even then, the Germans welcome the return of Alexander Zverev, the Canadians will bring back both Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, and the British have the red-hot Cameron Norrie and Daniel Evans.

Prediction: 4th in Group C