Alexander Zverev foundation
The World Tennis League is giving tennis fans some feisty action towards the end of the year and on December 23, we will see two exciting teams – Eagles and Hawks face each other.
Each team will have a maximum of four players competing in a match. The mixed-gender exhibition tournament that is being held in the Middle East in Dubai will see each match being decided after the result of best-of-three contests involving one singles men’s match, one singles women’s match, and one mixed doubles match. There will be a 10-point tiebreak for the third set.
| Hawks | Eagles |
| Alexander Zverev | Nick Kyrgios |
| Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova | Caroline Garcia |
| Elena Rybakina | Bianca Andreescu |
| Dominic Thiem | Rohan Bopanna |
| – | Andreas Seppi |
The 2017 French Open champion in mixed doubles, Rohan Bopanna, has a lot of experience in playing mixed doubles. He also finished runner-up at the 2018 Australian Open. He is a vital cog in the Eagles’ lineup.
Bianca Andreescu has shown her capability in playing mixed doubles on the opening day of the tournament. She teamed with Nick Kyrgios and defeated the team of Holger Rune and Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.
Dominic Thiem will be looking forward to getting as much match practice as he can ahead of the new season. He is a former US Open champion and knows how to hang in with the top stars. However, injuries have pegged him back. He has looked better in the last few tournaments he has played and will look to build on those performances going forward.
Anett Kontaveit was initially part of the Hawks’ unit but she had to withdraw due to injury. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova surprisingly stepped up to replace her. The Russian player announced previously that she would not be competing in any more tennis events in 2022 owing to injury. Pavlyuchenkova and Thiem teamed up in their first match against Grigor Dimitrov and Paula Badosa. Pavlyuchenkova and Thiem lost the match 7-5, 3-6, 4-10.
This has all the potential to be an exciting contest. Caroline Garcia had a standout performance this season, especially in the second half. On the other hand, Elena Rybakina defied all odds and went on to lift her first Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon Championships.
Garcia came into the tournament after winning the WTA Finals in November. In that tournament, she only faced defeat in one match against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek. In her first match in the World Tennis League, the Frenchwoman once again lost to Swiatek. However, others have found it quite hard to defeat Garcia, especially because of her aggressive style of play.
Elena Rybakina might not have had great success after her Wimbledon triumph but she is quite menacing when in full flow. She got off to a good start in the tournament as she defeated Aryna Sabalenka after receiving a bagel in the first set. The match ended 0-6, 6-1, 10-6 in favor of the Kazakhstani No. 1.
Fans will be waiting for this enticing encounter with bated breath. While Nick Kyrgios enjoyed a fabulous season, Alexander Zverev missed most of the action owing to an ankle injury.
Kyrgios played in both the singles as well as mixed doubles matches in Eagles’ first match. In the singles encounter against Felix Auger-Aliassime, the Aussie star lost in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 in 65 minutes. This was the deciding match and Kites got the win courtesy of this result.
Alexander Zverev would have surely received immense confidence after defeating an in-form Novak Djokovic in his first match of the tournament. Zverev will look to get some more wins under his belt prior to the Australian Open next year.
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