Guido Pella had a secret weapon during his win on Saturday at the ATP Cup, but it’s not what you’d expect.
The Argentine made use of one of the 24-team competition’s innovations, going through a tablet in the Team Zone to get updated statistics and look back at previous points during changeovers, helping him adjust tactics accordingly to defeat Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
“I was looking for specific points, because I think in a few points of the match I did a bad choice for a hit, so I was looking for that particular point,” Pella said. “I think it was a backhand cross when he broke my serve in the second set, and I think that was down the line. It's very good to have the tablet there, because you can look [at] anything.”
The tablet is one of many innovations at the ATP Cup, with the Team Zone being another. So not only did Pella have access to all that information, but captain Gaston Gaudio and Pella’s personal coach, Jose Acasuso, were there to talk through it all with him.
“In every tournament of the year, we don't have that kind of stuff on court. So it's very nice to have the technology by your side, because I think the technology is very good for the sport, because you can look [at] anything,” Pella said. “I was looking for specific points and maybe some things that he was doing very good. I think that helped me a lot.”
Before competing on Saturday evening, Croatian No. 1 Borna Coric did not plan on going out of his way to use the tablet, especially if he was leading.
“For sure I'm going to use it if things are not going well or if I don't feel well, but if I start playing good and if I see that I'm doing pretty good, I don't think I'm going to use it too much,” Coric said. “I'm going to say to the coach as well that I expect from him to tell me [the] most important things. But I'm not going to use it too much personally.”
But things changed during his battle with World No. 4 Dominic Thiem. Former World No. 3 Marin Cilic, who won the first match of the tie for Croatia, took a keen interest in the tablet after Coric’s second set, which he dropped 2-6.
“He likes to do it, I think. I'm not a huge fan of that, but he likes it. And he told me [a] couple things,” Coric said. “I did use it, of course. When Marin says do something, obviously it affects [you], it's there. So I did use it.”
Coric, who did not earn a Top 10 win in 2019, ended up bouncing back to take the decider and upset Thiem.
Bulgaria’s Dimitar Kuzmanov lost his match on Friday against Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie, but it wasn’t because he didn’t have access to enough information on the court. Despite his loss, the World No. 423 enjoyed being able to reference the tablet throughout the match, and according to him, so did those in his Team Zone.
“I saw that they were looking at the tablet since the beginning,” Kuzmanov said. “So they were showing me the stats, especially after the first set. Not showing me, but telling me. Just giving me information how things are going, like percentages and so on.
“The percentage of the returned serves, first and second. First-serve percentage, as well. That's why I was serving much better in the second, because I was more concentrated on that first serve,” Kuzmanov said. “I couldn't use the new system regarding the foot fault and the double bounce, but I think any innovation is good for the sport and for the fans, as well, as we see everything happening around here. And we are excited as well about it.”
