The 2021 Davis Cup Finals will get underway on Thursday with round-robin competition. A total of 18 countries are divided into six groups of three, with each of the six winners advancing to the quarterfinals along with two second-place teams that have the best remaining records based on number of matches and sets won.
Each tie is best-of-three, with two singles rubbers followed by a doubles match.
Spain is bidding for its second title–and second in a row–since the Davis Cup format was changed in 2019 (last year’s event was cancelled because of Covid-19). Led by Rafael Nadal, the host nation took care of business in Madrid by beating Great Britain in the semis and Canada in the final. The Spaniards will have home-court advantage once again, as Madrid is one of three sites for the round-robin and quarterfinals and is the lone site for the semis and final. However, this time around there is no Nadal.
Team Spain is still loaded, but it finds itself in the same group as Russia. The Russians started the 2021 season by triumphing at the ATP Cup and they have to be considered the favorites in the Davis Cup thanks to Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, and Karen Khachanov.
Serbia obviously cannot be discounted with Novak Djokovic at the helm. Italy should be a contender even without Matteo Berrettini, as both Jannik Sinner and Fabio Fognini are on board. The United States is formidable in both singles and doubles, but being in the same group as Italy is tough. France is led by Nitto ATP Finals doubles champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, but can the singles players pick up enough wins for the country’s second title in the last five years?
Picks:
Group A
1) Russia
2) Spain
3) Ecuador
Group B
1) Kazakhstan
2) Sweden
3) Canada
Group C
1) France
2) Great Britain
3) Czech Republic
Group D
1) Australia
2) Croatia
3) Hungary
Group E
1) Italy
2) United States
3) Colombia
Group F
1) Serbia
2) Germany
3) Austria
Quarterfinals
Russia over United States
France over Serbia
Italy over Australia
Spain over Kazakhstan
Semifinals
Russia over France
Spain over Italy
Final
Russia over Spain
who ya got?
Would love to see USA get out of it’s group….and Russia definitely has the most talent….and young talent!!
Spain’s RBA has pulled out with an ab injury (replaced by Ramos-Vinolas), leaving them with PCB and the new kid on the block, Alcaraz. Doubt either of them are up to Rafa’s heroics in 2019 so, yes, Russia looks likely to win. Germany’s Zverev says the “new” DC is beneath him so he’s out.
Only good news for me is that the CBS sports network has the DC rights this year so we Americans will actually be able to see a lot of the matches.
Spain won’t go down without a fight, neither will Italy or Serbia.