ATP: Nadal and Kyrgios at the start of the FAST4 tournament

Rafael Nadal, Nick Kyrgios, Grigor Dimitrov and Kei Nishikori will compete in the FAST4 tournament in Sydney on 7 January 2019. The show event serves as preparation for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year in Melbourne.

The year on the ATP-Tour 2018 is just over, the first plans of the top stars for the season 2019 are already published. Nick Kyrgios, Rafael Nadal, Kei Nishikori and Grigor Dimitrov will be travelling to Sydney at the beginning of the year. Before that, however, all four will still be competing in Brisbane, where Kyrgios will be the defending champion.

Before it is called “Ab to Melbourne” and the first Grand Slam title of the year is awarded, the four co-favorites are drawn to the Major Triumph in Australia’s largest city. Reason: the FAST4 event in the Qudos Bank Arena.

The tournament took place for the first time in 2015, when Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt were still at the start. The special: One set is decided after four games won, at 3:3 a tiebreak decides the winner. The rules are identical to those of the NextGen finals in Milan.

Nadal, who lost the 2017 FAST4 event against Kyrgios, had to cancel his participation last year due to an injury. Kyrgios and Dimitrov had a double together with Alexander Zverev and Lleyton Hewitt. For Kei Nishikori it will be the premiere at this event after an injury-related cancellation two years ago.