AUSTRALIA enters the 2021 ATP Cup with a wildcard courtesy of being the home nation, but they are far from making up the numbers. If anything, the team led by Top 25 player Alex de Minaur is just that – a wildcard – with the all-court Australian capable of matching it with most top players, and the overall balance of the team is pretty solid.

TEAM:

Alex de Minaur
John Millman
John Peers
Luke Saville

Coming off his fourth title – albeit via a walkover – in Antalya, de Minaur is a player who just keeps getting better. He has always been capable of counter punching, but his all-court style – particularly his shot making is getting better and better. Sometimes it is easy to forget he is only 21-years-old, and has plenty of improvement left in him. He has the talent to match it with most of the top players, and could easily beat just about anyone on his best day.

Still finding consistency in his game, he is at least on his preferred hard court – he struggles on clay – and therefore should back him in against most. He might be the underdog against the top six nations, but anyone from Diego Schwartzman down – including Matteo Berrettini, Kei Nishikori, Gael Monfils and Denis Shapovalov – he should have a huge chance against. His ranking is not indicative of his hard court performance, and would be a Top 15 had it not been for injury early in 2020 and then not being able to play half the year due to the global pandemic.

John Millman is just as solid as a second player. Not expected to beat the number one player in any of the teams, Millman has the capacity to beat just about any of the second players. The big danger men will be Roberto Bautista Agut, Andrey Rublev and Milos Raonic, but the rest the counter puncher has the ability to beat. He has got to the stage in his career where you are not shocked if he beat anyone, but he still has that ceiling he has reached, it is more about wearing down the opposition and getting the match on his terms.

Looking at the doubles, the combination of John Peers and Luke Saville is the best possible combination they could have picked. Peers is ranked 28th in the world and Saville 37th, and it’s a fairly good one-two punch. They should go at least 50 per cent, though if one of the singles loses, then they do not have the certainty of some doubles pairings to make up. There is the possibility to throw de Minaur in the doubles, but he still needs to be managed and should only be a break glass kind of emergency.

Overall, Australia should be able to knock off Japan and Greece, would have a good chance against Austria and France, but might struggle against most of the other sides unless the players are at their best. It will be fascinating to see which group Australia lands in, and they will be hoping to avoid the top two sides.

Picture credit: ATP Tour