ATP Cup kicks off Melbourne’s summer of tennis

Tennis returns to Melbourne Park on Tuesday as the ATP Cup gets under way with the world’s top players in action.

Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev will all be in action on Day 1 of the event.

Defending champion Serbia will open the event in the day session against Canada on Rod Laver Arena and Austria will face Italy on John Cain Arena.

Last year Serbia beat Canada 3-0 in the knockout stages. On Tuesday Djokovic will go head to head again with Denis Shapovalov in the singles.

The evening session will see Spain face hosts Australia on Rod Laver Arena. 

Rafael Nadal will meet Alex de Minaur in singles – there first time since the pair met in the semifinals of the event last year.

Russia opens against Argentina, with some intriguing matchups in store, Medvedev and Schwartzman the highlight.

Germany, Greece, France and Japan will play their first ties of the tournament on Day 2.

Each tie will consist of three matches with No. 2 singles players competing before the No. 1 singles, followed by a doubles match.

The opening three days of the tournament will feature 12 group stage ties, with the four group winners advancing to the semi-finals.

The semi-finals will be held on Friday and the final on Saturday.