Roberto Bautista Agut, along with his coach, Pepe Vendrell, traveled to Australia on Tuesday to begin the pre-quarantine and be able to compete in the first tournaments of the season: the ATP Cup and the Australian Open.
The Castellón, who ended last season earlier than desired due to an injury to his right elbow, returns to competition in Australia, where he plans to participate in the ATP Cup, being player number 2 of the Spanish team and, later, in the first Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open.
Due to the pandemic caused by Covid-19, players, and the small equipment they carry, have to carry out a prior quarantine to Australian dating. During this time, they will only be able to leave the hotel for 5 hours a day to train with the same partner. During the first week in Melbourne, Bautista Agut will work out with the Russian Daniil Medvedev, number 4 in the ATP ranking. The canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and the Italian Matteo Berrettini they will be your training partners in the second week.
“It is an atypical situation when it comes to preparing a tournament, so we must carefully measure the hours of training and the hours of rest to get to compete in the best possible state in Melbourne ”, comments Pepe Vendrell. After weeks of rest and recovery of the elbow, Roberto Bautista Agut and Pepe Vendrell finished the preparation of the season together with Rafa Nadal and Carlos Moyá at the Nadal academy in Mallorca.
Bautista Agut thus begins his sixteenth season as a professional, and from the thirteenth position in the ATP ranking. For his part, it should be noted that Pepe Vendrell will act as captain of the Spanish team in the ATP Cup.