ATP Cup schedule announced: Medvedev faces Thiem in Russia's first tie; Serbia, Greece feature on opening day

In a battle between the last two US Open champions, Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem will square off as Russia begin their ATP Cup title defense against Austria on Day 2 of the competition in Sydney. The full schedule for the third edition of the men's team event was released on Wednesday.

Russia will kick off proceedings in the day session on January 2 at the Ken Rosewall Arena while the Qudos Bank Arena will feature a tie between Canada and USA.

The entire nine-day tournament will be held in Sydney this time, spread across the two venues - Ken Rosewall Arena and Qudos Bank Arena. The group stages of the 2022 ATP Cup will be completed from January 1-6, followed by the knockouts from January 7-9.

Serbia and Greece both feature on the opening day of the competition. Top seeds Serbia face Norway while fourth seeds Greece take on Poland on the night of New Year's Day.

With each tie starting with a singles face-off between the No. 2 players of the respective countries followed by a match between the top players, Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud are set to face each other on the first day of the 2022 ATP Cup.

The two recently clashed at the ATP Finals in Turin, where the World No. 1 needed a first-set tie-break to see off the challenge of the Norwegian in a 7-6(4), 6-2 win.

Casper Ruud (L) & Novak Djokovic shake hands after their match at the ATP Finals 2021

But all eyes will be on the Russia vs Austria tie on the second day, which will pit old rivals Medvedev and Thiem. The two have faced each other five times so far, with the Austrian enjoying a slight edge of 3-2 in their head-to-head.

Medvedev and Thiem split their two meetings in 2020. While the Austrian came out on top in their US Open face-off, Medvedev won a tightly-contested final at the ATP Finals.

Thiem's 2021 season has been largely hampered by injuries. Medvedev, on the other hand, has had his career-best year, winning his maiden Grand Slam and finishing the season at a career-high World No. 2 ranking.

It remains to be seen how much of an impact Thiem can make against an in-form Medvedev after not having played for six months.

Group A winner vs Group D winner, Group B vs Group C winner in semis

The first semifinal of the 2022 ATP Cup will pit the Group A winner against the Group D winner on the night of January 7. The day session on January 8, meanwhile, will see the second semifinal contested between the Group B winner and the Group C winner.

The two semifinal winners will proceed to the championship match to be held in the night session on January 9.

All 2022 ATP Cup knockout matches will be held at the Ken Rosewall Arena.

2022 ATP Cup Groups

16 countries have been divided into four groups at the 2022 ATP Cup.

Group A will be led by top seeds and inaugural ATP Cup champions Serbia, who will vie with Spain, Norway and Chile for a semifinal berth.

Second seeds and defending champions Russia are in Group B alongside Austria, Italy and hosts Australia.

Third seeds Germany will lead Group C, where they will face competition from Canada, Great Britain and the United States.

Fourth seeds Greece will have to contend with the likes of Poland, Argentina and Georgia in Group D.

18 of the world's top 20 men's singles players have committed to the upcoming edition of the ATP Cup, including the top five — Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev.

20-time Grand Slam champions Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are the only absentees from the top 20.

You can find the full list of committed players here.

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