Despite his preparation, Tallon Greekpoor is looking forward to the United Cup. Next weekend the tennis player will compete against Norway in the team competition on Australian soil.
“I arrived here two days ago and could still use some training days,” says Greekpoor (27) by telephone from Sydney. “I notice that everyone arrives here quite late. I thought I was quite late, but I was still here pretty much the first.”
At the end of November, Greek Spoor participated in the Davis Cup Finals in Málaga and shortly afterwards he also appeared at a demonstration tournament in Macau. It meant that his preparation time for the new season was limited.
“From a planning and training perspective, it was not ideal. But for the tournament in Macau I received an offer that you simply cannot say no to. It was an incredibly cool experience, but going that way for four days – with the time difference – was not optimal.”
Debut in United Cup
This was followed by a holiday to Dubai and he was also quite ill for a week. “I was able to train in Amstelveen for about ten days. That’s why it doesn’t feel like I’m completely ready for it. It all takes some adjusting. Suddenly you’re playing outside again and the temperature difference also takes some getting used to. That’s why I will probably opt out of next week’s Adelaide tournament in order to be ready for the Australian Open in mid-January.”
But first the United Cup, the national tournament to which the Netherlands has been invited for the first time. “I was one of the last players to commit. The rest of the team wanted to participate, but of course they needed me because of my ranking,” said the leader, who starts the tennis year as number 23 in the world.
“I have to defend a title in the first week of the year, so it was not a done deal. In the end I decided to play, because I like to play for my country. I was and am very curious about the tournament anyway. I’m also a big fan of Australia. It’s a really nice place to be and the conditions are great.”
Greek Spoor forms a team at the United Cup with Wesley Koolhof, Thiemo de Bakker and the women Arantxa Rus, Arianne Hartono and Demi Schuurs. The Netherlands will compete against Norway and Croatia in Sydney. Novak Djokovic is also participating in the United Cup, as is Iga Swiatek.
Last year, Greek Spoor won the ATP tournament in Pune in India in week 1, but that tournament has been removed from the calendar.