2021 Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals
9Gem will show the group matches involving Australia live this week.
Croatia v Australia - 2am AEDT Friday November 26 (replayed on beIN Sport 1 at 7pm AEDT)
Australia v Hungary - time TBC, Saturday November 27
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BeIn Sports will have the rights to the other ties
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How the Australian summer of tennis is looking from what Ive read…
Sat Jan 1 - Sun Jan 9…ATP Cup (16 nations, 4 groups of 4) in Sydney
Sun Jan 2 - Sun Jan 9…ATP 250 & WTA 500 in Adelaide
Sun Jan 9 - Sat Jan 15…ATP 250 & WTA 250 in Adelaide
Mon Jan 10 - Thurs Jan 13…Australian Open mens & womens singles qualifying in Melbourne
Mon Jan 17 - Sun Jan 30…Australian Open in Melbourne
potential additional ATP & WTA events in Sydney for week 2, and Melbourne for weeks 1 & 2 to be confirmed
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Both events will be held under the Adelaide International umbrella.
https://www.premier.sa.gov.au/news/media-releases/news/blockbuster-tennis-action-returning-to-adelaides-memorial-drive
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I dont think the Melbourne week 1 & Sydney week 2 events official yet, but the schedule looks like it will be as follows…
Sat Jan 1 - Sun Jan 9…ATP Cup (16 nations, 4 groups of 4) in Sydney
Sun Jan 2 - Sun Jan 9…ATP 250 & 2 x WTA 250 in Melbourne
Sun Jan 2 - Sun Jan 9…ATP 250 & WTA 500 in Adelaide
Sun Jan 9 - Sat Jan 15…ATP 250 & WTA 250 in Adelaide
Sun Jan 9 - Sat Jan 15…ATP 250 & WTA 500 in Sydney
Mon Jan 10 - Thurs Jan 13…Australian Open mens & womens singles qualifying in Melbourne
Mon Jan 17 - Sun Jan 30…Australian Open in Melbourne
Entry deadline acceptance list for Aus Open should be Monday Dec 6(six weeks prior to the event)…its the day after Davis Cup Final…I think it will be the date we find out if Novak is coming to Australia or not, unless they allow players to register for deadline then get the injections later in December…depending on his status, we will then know if Serbia will qualify for ATP Cup or not as nations ranking/seeding is determined by each nations #1 players ranking, then that week they can sort out player acceptances for ATP Cup and also do the group draw…and the draw for the last Australian Open was on the Friday before the tournament started, and Im not sure if it will again be that same Friday before, or revert back to the Thursday night
Ive seen it reported the Aus Open mens semis times will be 2.30 and 7.30 on the Friday in separate sessions
Confirmed and potential big names missing this summer…
Federer - out for sure recovering from knee surgery
Tsitsipas - likely out if he gets elbow surgery
Wawrinka - tbc he is recovering from achilles/foot surgery
Djokovic - tbc due to injection status
Thiem will be playing, and is returning in the Abu Dhabi 6 man exhibition event Dec 16-18
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Vaccination. I’m sure he’s had plenty of injections…
I miss the commentary of John Alexander, especially the Aus Open night matches.
Jim Courier has become the voice of the Aus Open here for so many years and Im sure will be back again for 9…hope to see John McEnroe again as well after he stayed at home for the last Aus Open.
I would enjoy seeing 9 use more impactful/memorable/atmospheric music during their Aus Open coverage, especially intro music to start each broadcast. Something energetic to really encapsulate the vibe of the Aus Open.
The best use of music Ive enjoyed over the years in Australian TV sports broadcasts have been 10 for their rugby league coverage in the 80s(try replay music), 7 for their Aus Open tennis coverage in the 90s, and the cricket coverage of 9, the 9 Wimbledon intro in 90s/2000s, and SBS World Cup USA 94 and France 98.
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John Alexander was the worst tennis commentator of all time. Maybe only matched by Fred Stolle
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I dont agree, I thought the combo of Alexander/Courier/Bruce (or just Alexander/Courier together) was awesome
JA I found had a very good historical knowledge of the sport, and a great quality voice for commentary
He used to say the most dumb things. His analysis was awful. Made sense he went into politics
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Each to their own.
One mans ‘worst commentator of alltime’ is another mans ‘voice of the Aus Open for 20 years’.
For me JA passed the torch to Courier who has held it ever since over the last decade.
Davis Cup Finals 5 year deal for Abu Dhabi likely confirmed next week
sounds like ATP and ITF want to eventually combine ATP Cup and Davis Cup Finals, but not for at least another 2 years
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Prefer going around to different hosts like the Olympics
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United Arab Emirates are suddenly becoming the place for season-ending sporting events: the European Tour golf championship, Formula 1 and soon Davis Cup finals.
Sad to see Davis Cup go to the event with the best atmosphere to the worst atmosphere.
They chased the money, see how that works out for them. Should of kept home and away ties and just made it a two year event. That way you would only used 2 weeks of the calendar.
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The calendar was confirmed today - multiple tournaments in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne with the dates you posted yesterday. The Sydney ATP/WTA tournament will be called Sydney Tennis Classic rather than Sydney International.
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Coverage will be interesting of these warm up events and whether it all falls under Nine’s contract, i would assume so. ATP Cup will be shown and I suppose a channel for the other events the first week (more so the Adelaide tournament). And then probably just one channel for Sydney in the 2nd week.
A lot of it will be on 9Now I suppose.
Yep. It’s all 9’s and will be on 9Now, with select tournaments and matches on Gem/Go.
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Not sure if anyone noticed during the Davis Cup coverage for WWOS on 9GEM, the 9News graphics was used to inform viewers that a member of the Spain 
Davis Cup team had tested positive for COVID.
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That’s 9 news, not Today… And it’s just the wipe, not the graphics…
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