The 2019 #HopmanCup is filled with strong teams and the clashes, which are pre-set for the Round Robin stage, are already making tennis fans impatient for the new season to begin play. Being the first tournament to kickstart the new season, Perth will host many top players like Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Garbine Muguruza, et cetera.
Group A will see top seeds Germany go up against France, Australia and Spain.
Spain
#Spain will be represented by former Major finalist #DavidFerrer, who is competing in his last year on the tour, alongside #GarbineMuguruza, former world number one and two-time Major champion. Both players are making their debuts in the tournament and will be looking to help Spain, a dark horse in the draw, claim several huge scalps in the first week of 2019.
Ferrer, at the age of 36, will be making his first appearance in Perth during his last year on tour. It is a fresh way to start the season for the Spaniard after his storied career, and he will be looking to end his career by experiencing new things and events. Ferrer is currently ranked outside the top-100 due to a series of poor results, although he did claim a Challenger title to end off 2018 with.
Likewise, Muguruza also experienced a tough year with several rough patches. She exited the top-10 after failing to defend her Wimbledon and Cincinnati titles but managed to reach the semifinals in Roland Garros, Dubai and Zhuhai. Her encounters against Angelique Kerber and Ashleigh Barty are ones to watch in the tournament.
France
2017 champions #France will return with a strong team consisting of #AlizeCornet, a seasoned veteran, and #LucasPouille, the highest-ranked Frenchman in recent times. Pouille will be making his debut but Cornet is making her fourth appearance in Perth. This will also be the first time that they will be competing as a mixed doubles pairing.
Pouille made his top-10 debut this year but his season went all wrong since then, ultimately falling out of the top-30 by the end of 2018. Nonetheless, he was still a prominent figure in the process of sending France into the Davis Cup final and was hailed as a national hero. Looking to overcome his disappointment, Pouille can only hope that a fresh start in Perth will provide him with the confidence for the new season.
Cornet has always maintained her spot in the top-50 consistently after yet another solid season which saw her claim a WTA title in Gstaad. Cornet previously reached the final in 2014, and will be back looking for more success here in Perth. The Frenchwoman had tasted success against Angelique Kerber (whom she will face during the tournament) in the past and should be able to claim some huge wins in the week.
Australia
Home favourites #Australia has been a frequent (or rather, an automatically confirmed) participant of the Hopman Cup each year. This year, they will be represented by two debutants #MatthewEbden and #AshleighBarty, who both managed to breakthrough onto the international scene after successful years.
Several deep runs in grass tournaments witnessed the rise of Ebden, who cracked the world’s top-50 for the first time in his career. Consistent performances week-in and week-out saw the Australian slowly making a name for himself, claiming his maiden top-10 victory over Dominic Thiem in Shanghai. This time, he will have the golden opportunity to earn a bigger victory over Alexander Zverev during the Round Robin stage.
Barty stayed inside the top-20 for the entire year but she finally broke into the world’s top-15 for the first time in her career after grabbing the WTA Elite Trophy championship, which is considered the second-tier WTA Finals. Reaching the final in Sydney this year showed that Barty could, in fact, perform well in front of her supportive home crowd and she will be hoping that she could replicate that success in Perth as well. Her matches against Kerber and Muguruza are set to be thrillers.
Germany
The top seeds for the tournament would be #Germany, who sent an all-star team out to represent them. World number two #AngeliqueKerber and world number four #AlexanderZverev will join forces for the second consecutive year and vie for the title after a successful outing this year when they reached the final, only falling short to Switzerland.
Zverev finally broke the duck this year — reaching his maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at the French Open. He won titles in Munich, Madrid, Washington, and most notably the Nitto ATP Finals. The German has been labelled as the game’s future, and he certainly proved his worth after reaching a total of 10 semifinals in 2018. It is incredible how he could maintain a certain quality of play week-in and week-out, and surely he will be looking to make the best possible start to a new season in Perth by replicating his success from this year.
Kerber went unbeaten throughout her Perth campaign this year, and it is definitely not a question whether the German will return to this tournament. She lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish for the first time, but also tasted success in Australia after winning the Apia International Sydney and reaching the last four of the Australian Open, amassing an overall 14-1 win-loss record. However, the German failed to reach a quarterfinal ever since her Wimbledon triumph, can she rediscover her form in Perth where she will get to face fellow top player Garbine Muguruza, nemesis Alize Cornet, and home favourite Ashleigh Barty?
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