Standing at 6ft 11in Reilly Opelka is the tallest man competing on the ATP tour. Unsurprisingly, it is his big serve that is his most effective weapon.
The American is like a younger version of his countryman John Isner, although he has some way to go to also become a mainstay in the top 20.
Both his career titles came on the hard courts in his native USA so under these conditions is when he poses the biggest threat to opponents.
As with most tall players, Opelka’s strong serve is counter-balanced by a lack of mobility around the court so the longer a rally goes on, the less chance he has of winning it.
The American veteran has been the king of the big serve and ace count in tennis for the past decade.
Twice a record-breaker at Wimbledon. In 2010, he was involved in the longest match ever, eleven hours, and hit 113 aces to beat Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set.
Eight years later Isner lost a fifth set 26-24 against Kevin Anderson – the longest ever match on Centre Court.
6ft 10in Isner has built a solid career on the quality of his first and second serve. It has earnt him a top 10 ranking, and a Masters 1000 title. On any given day, heis difficult to stop.
Like many other Spanish players of his generation, Bautista Agut has been firmly in the shadow of Rafael Nadal his entire career.
Already in his 30s, in 2019 he reached the quarter finals in Australia and the semi finals at Wimbledon and broke into the top 10 world rankings for the first time.
Bautista Agut has a solid game of attack and defence that has fared well on all surfaces throughout his career.
The interrupted 2020 season was the first year he failed to make a tournament final for eight years.
Matteo Berrettini stole the show on the opening day of the ATP Cup in Melbourne, with a dominating win over Austria’s Dominic Thiem.
The lanky Italian had the pressure on after his team-mate Fabio Fognini had put in a pathetic display to be easily beaten by world number 100 Dennis Novak.
The two results show the trajectory of the two Italian’s careers are heading in opposite directions.
Berrettini outclassed and overpowered Thiem from the very beginning of the match to take a 6-2, 4-0 lead, and despite a late rally from the Austrian, there was only ever going to be one winner.
Both players from both teams returned to the court for the decisive double match and it was the Italians who prevailed comfortably by two sets to nil.
Elsewhere on the opening day, Milos Raonic showed he is back to his best with a typical power-packed win over Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic.
That took the pressure of Canada’s young star Denis Shapovalov as he faced the dauting challenge of world number one Novak Djokovic.
The match took a familiar path with Shap bringing out all his passion and skill to stay with the great Serb.
However, in the crunch moments, as so often is the case, Djokovic kept his cool and let his opponent make mistakes, to claim a vital 7-5, 7-5 victory for Serbia.
The two Canadians returned to court for the deciding doubles while Djokovic was partnered by the talented Felip Krajinovic.
The Serb’s battled their way to a tight 7-5, 7-6 win and begin their ATP Cup campaign with a win.
In the Australian evening (and the British morning) it was the might of Spain taking on the hosts, while the star-studded Russian team faced Argentina.
The talented Russian pair of Rublev and Medvedev had little trouble in despatching their respective opponents of Pella and Schwartzman, although the Argentine doubles team of Zeballos and Gonzalez did claim a win in the tie over Rublev and Karatsev. That one win could yet prove vital in the final standings.
However, all eyes were on the glamour tie of Australia versus Spain.
Surprisingly, the Spaniards kept their star man Rafa Nadal on the bench for the opening match of the Cup.
However, it didn’t do them much harm as Pablo Carreno Busta delivered a comfortable 2-0 over Aussie veteran John Millman, and Roberto Bautista Agut sealed the points with a comeback 2-1 over the darling of Australian tennis Alex de Minaur.
The Spaniards completed the emphatic win by claiming the doubles match 2-0 too.
Looking ahead to tonight, the French team take to the court for the first time to play the unpredictable Italians.
With crazy man Benoit Paire and showman Gael Monfils as their two lead singles players, it is almost impossible to predict how the French team will fare.
Both players, particularly Monfils, can be mesmerising on their day, but equally can collapse and hand victory over to their opponents.
A lack of maturity and leadership in the French team, along with the scintillating form of Matteo Berrettini so far in the tournament, means you have to fancy the Italians to claim another win and secure their place in the next round.
The Canadians also return to court for day 2 of the ATP Cup, this time facing Germany.
On the face of it, there is little to choose between the pairs of Raonic and Shapovalov, and Zverev and Struff, so much will depend on how the players are divided to play which opponents, and who turns up on the day.
With Raonic looking like he has found his A-game, and the unbreakable confidence and self-belief of Shap, expect the Canadians to come out on top and keep their hopes of progressing alive.
Day 2’s evening session features the introduction of the Greek team to the ATP Cup. There is a huge weight on the shoulders of their lead player Stefanos Tsitsipas to win his matches, with his team-mate Michail Pervolarakis being only just ranked inside the world’s top 100.
Australia will be hoping to keep themselves in the tournament by defeating the Greeks. It is hard to see Pervolarakis claiming a win over Millman or de Minaur, so this one will depend on whether Tsitsipas can force the tie to the deciding doubles rubber. Even then, the Australians would have the stronger team.
The other game this evening, sees the strong Russian team take on Japan.
With only Kei Nishikori having any real pedigree in the game, it is hard to make a case for Japan being in the ATP Cup for much more than to make up the numbers.
However, the Japanese star is capable of claiming a win over Medvedev or Rublev and forcing a doubles decider.
That been said, expect the Russians to progress comfortably into the next round.
Canadian Raonic is a studious character and his gameplan throughout his career has been based on playing to his strengths of a big serve and aggressive follow-up forehand.
When he is at the top of his game it has been a match for even the very best of opponents but Raonic has not yet managed to maintain his top level long enough to win a Grand Slam.
A Wimbledon final defeat to Andy Murray in 2016 is the closest he has managed so far.
A player of percentage tennis, Raonic needs all his weapons firing to have a chance of beating a top 10 player, but when he is on song then he has blasted many a superstar off the court.
The Australian star made a steady climb into the top 20 in 2019 and has remained in or around that level since.
His game lacks any big power shots, so his strategy is usually to outwork and outrun his opponent. He has been mentored by Aussie legend Lleyton Hewitt and his playing style reflects that.
de Minaur relies on his strong mentality and has outlasted more erratic opponents in pressure moments on several occasions.
His work ethic extends to the number of tournaments he plays, as he rarely takes a week off from the tour. He has already reached eight tour level finals, and won half.
Japan’s most successful male player of all time. He reached the US Open final in 2014 but was outplayed by an inspired Marin Cilic.
Nishikori has been consistent in all four Grand Slams and appeared at four out five ATP Finals between 2014 and 2018.
His patience in rallies and speed around the court are his main qualities. Nishikori has mixed it with the best for most of his career and has an excellent record in last set deciders.
In recent years he has struggled with form and injury and has yet to return to the top table of the game.
The Italian ended the 2020 season as the youngest player ranked inside the world’s top 100. He jumped around 700 places in two years.
Sinner caught the eye when he bagelled former top 10 player David Goffin at the French Open in 2020. He also beat Alexander Zverev in that tournament and was only stopped by Rafa Nadal.
Sinner claimed the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals and added his first tour title in 2020 by winning the Sofia ATP 250. Sinner is tipped for many more titles in his career.
