Davis Cup Finals 2019: Stars missing out, new format - All you need to know
Here's everything you need to know about the Davis Cup Finals 2019 - from the stars missing out to the new format to the entire schedule.
Published : Nov 18, 2019 19:26 IST
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.
- 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 RogerFederer , will miss the Davis Cup Finals. While Federer's Switzerland and DominicThiem '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