Davis Cup Finals 2019: Stars missing out, new format - All you need to know

It's a new dawn for the Davis Cup, the premier national team competition in men's tennis. The revamped tournament will kick off on Monday at Caja Magica in Madrid, Spain.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has re-branded the 119-year-old Davis Cup and it will now be played in a World Cup format between 18 teams. FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique's investment company Kosmos has teamed up with the ITF to provide it the financial muscle to revamp the competition.

What is new format?

•  The World Group, following the continental qualifiers, will now take place at one location over a single week, replacing the old format where teams either played at home or away. The World Group has now been renamed as the Davis Cup Finals.
• The 18 teams have been split into six groups of three teams each. The winners of the groups and the two best runners-up will advance to the quarterfinals.
• Each tie will consist of two singles and a doubles match and each match will be a best of three sets affair.

The 6 Groups

Group A: France, Serbia, Japan

Group B: Croatia, Spain, Russia

Group C: Argentina, Germany, Chile

Group D: Belgium, Australia, Colombia

Group E: Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Netherlands

Group F: USA, Italy, Canada

The Teams

Group A: France - Gael Monfils, Benoit Paire, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Nicolas Mahut | Serbia - Novak Djokovic, Dusan Lajovic, Filip Krajinovic, Viktor Troicki, Janko Tipsarevic | Japan - Yoshihito Nishioka, Yasutaka Uchiyama, Ben McLachlan, Yuichi Sugita, Taro Daniel

Group B: Croatia - Borna Coric, Mate Pavic, Nikola Mektic, Ivan Dodig | Spain - Rafael Nadal, Roberto Bautista Agut, Feliciano Lopez, Pablo Carreno Busta, Marcel Granollers | Russia - Karen Khachanov, Andrey Rublev, Evgeny Donskoy

Group C: Argentina - Diego Schwartzman, Guido Pella, Leonardo Mayer, Horacio Zeballos | Germany - Jan-Lennard Struff, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Dominik Koepfer, Andreas Mies, Kevin Krawietz | Chile - Cristian Garin, Nicolas Jarry, Alejandro Tabilo, Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera, Hans Podlipnik-Castillo

Group D: Belgium - David Goffin, Kimmer Coppejans, Sander Gille, Joran Vliegen, Steve Darcis | Australia - Alex de Minaur, Nick Kyrgios, John Millman, Jordan Thompson, John Peers | Colombia - Robert Farah, Santiago Giraldo, Juan-Sebastian Cabal, Daniel Elahi Galan, Alejandro Gonzalez

Group E: Great Britain - Daniel Evans, Andy Murray, Jamie Murray, Neal Skupski, Kyle Edmund | Kazakhstan - Alexander Bublik, Mikhail Kukushkin, Dmitry Popko, Aleksandr Nedovyesov, Andrey Golubev | Netherlands - Robin Haase, Tallon Griekspoor, Botic van de Zandschulp, Wesley Koolhof, Jean-Julien Rojer

Group F: USA - Frances Tiafoe, Jack Sock, Reilly Opelka, Taylor Fritz, Sam Querrey | Italy - Matteo Berrettini, Fabio Fognini, Andreas Seppi, Lorenzo Sonego, Simone Bolelli | Canada - Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Vasek Pospisil

The missing stars

Some of the biggest names in world tennis, including Swiss icon Roger Federer, will miss the Davis Cup Finals. While Federer's Switzerland and Dominic Thiem's Austria did not qualify, Alexander Zverev has chosen to skip the event. Russia's Daniil Medvedev has also pulled out owing to exhaustion.

Schedule

November 18 - Monday: Croatia vs Russia, Italy vs Canada, Belgium vs Colombia

November 19 - Tuesday: Argentina vs Chile, France vs Japan, Kazakhstan vs Netherlands, Spain vs Russia, USA vs Canada, Australia vs Colombia

November 20 - Wednesday: Serbia vs Japan, Argentina vs Germany, Great Britain vs Netherlands, Croatia vs Spain, USA vs Italy, Belgium vs Australia

November 21 - Thursday: France vs Serbia, Germany vs Chile, Great Britain vs Kazakhstan followed by Quarterfinal between Group D winner and Group F winner

November 22 - Friday: Quarterfinals

November 23 - Saturday: Semifinals

November 24 - Sunday: Final