Strong atp cup field despite federer loss

Adrian WarrenAAP Roger Federer's absence is a blow, but organisers remain thrilled with the standard of tennis on offer at the inaugural ATP Cup, which starts on Friday. The winner of

20 Grand Slams, the 38-year-old Swiss star is the only one of the top seven world-ranked players who will not be competing in the 10-day $22 million tournament across Sydney, Perth and

Brisbane. '"He's made the decision to spend some time with his family and he's obviously a lot more conscious of how much he's playing (as he gets older)," ATP

Cup tournament director Tom Larner told AAP. "For everything Roger has given to the sport we're accepting of that." Triple Slam winner Andy Murray will also not be appearing,

pulling out following an injury setback after his return from hip surgery. However, the fledgling tournament will still showcase eight of the top 10 and 24 of the top 30 men. Federer's

great rivals Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will represent Serbia and Spain respectively, while many of the most exciting emerging male stars of the sport will also be taking part. "If

you look at the depth of the field that we have, all the champions and some really exciting up-and-comers in (Greece's Stefanos) Tsitsipas, (Germany's Alexander) Zverev and

(Canada's) Felix (Auger-Aliassime), we're really thrilled with the field," Larner said. The nations those three emerging stars play for are in the same Brisbane group as

Australia, whose challenge will be be spearheaded by Alex de Minaur and Nick Kyrgios. "The Australian team is well balanced and I think the players have the ability to do well,"

said tennis legend Ken Rosewall, who unveiled the new $50 million roof over the arena bearing his name at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre. The other Brisbane group brings together France,

Chile, Serbia and South Africa. In Sydney, Belgium, Great Britain, Bulgaria and Molodova comprise one group while the other contains, Argentina, Austria, Croatia and Poland. Perth hosts

groups comprising the United States, Russia, Italy and Norway and another made up of Spain, Japan, Uruguay and Georgia. Each tie will be made up of three rubbers - two singles and a doubles.

The Spanish team including world No.1 Nadal and No.9 Roberto Bautista Agut are the early betting favourites ahead of Russia, Serbia and Australia. The six group winners plus two

second-placed nations go through to the final series in Sydney. GET THE LATEST NEWS FROM THEWEST.COM.AU IN YOUR INBOX. Sign up for our emails