According to the Associated Press on Wednesday, Doha, Qatar will host men’s qualifying for the 2021 Australian Open in Melbourne. The start date of the first major of the season was moved three weeks later as Tennis Australia and the Australian government needed to formulate a plan of how to host the major during a time of a pandemic.
Doha normally hosts an ATP Tour 250 series event in the second week of January, as players prepare for the Australian Open. However this year it seems the tournament will be limited to those who have not qualified for the Australian Open yet, and will take place over a four-day period from January 10-13.
Another change to the 2021 ATP season is that it now appears that the 2021 ATP Cup is back on after there were reports earlier this month of the event being cancelled. However, the event will be scaled back significantly, as there will be only 12 nations competing, instead of 24. We do not know as of yet the countries that will be participating or the criteria used to select the nations. Serbia, led by Novak Djokovic, is the defending champion of the ATP Cup, which launched last year for the first time.
For those players not competing at the ATP Cup, they will have a chance to compete in one of two events in Melbourne. One of the events moving to Melbourne is the Adelaide International. The United States Tennis Association made a similar decision this past August in moving the Western & Southern Open from Cincinnati to New York leading up to the 2020 U.S. Open.
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