Following a one-year hiatus because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2021 Davis Cup Finals are returning. The action will begin this Thursday with round-robin competition in Spain (Madrid), Austria (Innsbruck), and Italy (Turin).
Here are the 18 countries that are participating:
Automatic qualifiers
Spain – Defending champion
Canada – 2019 runner-up
Russia – 2019 semifinalist
Great Britain – 2019 semifinalist
Davis Cup qualifying round winners
Italy
Australia
United States
Croatia
Germany
Czech Republic
Kazakhstan
Austria
Sweden
Colombia
Hungary
Ecuador
Wild cards
Serbia
France
The teams are divided into six groups of three, with each nation playing the other two in its group in a best-of-three tie (two singles and one doubles). All six group winners will advance to the knockout round–which starts with the quarterfinals–and they will be joined by the two second-place teams that have the best records according to number of matches and sets won.
Groups
Group A: Spain, Ecuador and Russia
Group B: Canada, Kazakhstan and Sweden
Group C: France, Great Britain and Czech Republic
Group D: Croatia, Australia and Hungary
Group E: USA, Italy and Colombia
Group F: Serbia, Germany and Austria
Group A is the toughest, featuring both defending champion Spain and 2019 semifinalist Russia. Spain is without Rafael Nadal, but it does have Roberto Bautista Agut, Pablo Carreno Busta, and Carlos Alcaraz at its disposal. The Russians are fully loaded with Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, and Aslan Karatsev. They won the ATP Cup at the beginning of this season.
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