Six top 30 players will line up at the ASB Classic in Auckland, which features top seed Danil Medvedev, Fabio Fognini, Denis Shapovalov, Karen Khachanov, John Isner and Benoit Paire.
Three top seeds (Medvedev, Shapovalov and Khachanov) are still in their twenties. Medvedev won four of his seven career titles in 2019 in Sofia, Cincinnati, St. Petersburg and Shanghai) and reached five more finals in Brisbane, Barcelona, Washington, Montreal, US Open. The 23-year-old player also reached three semifinals at Rotterdam, Monte-Carlo and Queens.
Shapovalov celebrated his 20th birthday last April a few days after reaching his career high ranking of world number 15. The Canadian Next Gen star won his first career title in Stockolm and played in the Davis Cup final against Spain in Madrid. Shapovalov qualified for his first Masters 1000 final in Paris Bercy, three semifinals in Miami, Chengdu and Winston Salem and three quarter finals in Montpellier, Rotterdam and Lyon.
Khachanov reached the top 10 in June 2019 after reaching the quarter finals at Roland Garros. The Russian player achieved his career high at world number 8 and qualified for semifinals in Montreal and Beijing and quarter finals at Indian Wells, Halle, Moscow and Vienna.
Shapovalov and Khachanov have already played at Auckland twice before.
World number 12 Fabio Fognini will start his 2020 season in Auckland. The Italian player broke inside the top 10 in his career this career and won his first Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo after a dream week in which he beat Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev. Fognini reached six more quarter finals during the 2019 season in Auckland, Hamburg, Los Cabos, Montreal, Beijing, Shanghai and the round of 16 at Roland Garros.
“Fabio is one of the true entertainers of the ATP Tour. He is quite possibly the most naturally talented guy on tour. When he is on, there are few players that can stick with his level, as he showed beating Rafa in Monte-Carlo, a tournament Rafa has owned throughout his career. His array of shot making is unbelievable and is always entertainment plus. That is really important for us to have that variety and contrast of styles”, said Tournament Director Karl Budge.
Three of the eight players from the Next Gen ATP Finals (Frances Tiafoe, Casper Ruud and Ugo Humbert) and three past tournament finalists Adrian Mannarino (2015), Joao Sousa (2017) and Cameron Norrie (2019) have confirmed that they will play in Auckland next January.
