The new-look Davis Cup will begin from 2019 and the draw for the qualifiers of its first ever edition has been revealed. 24 teams will go head to head to decide the 12 teams that would join the four semi-finalists from the 2018 Davis Cup and the two wild-card entrants.
These 12 qualifiers will join France, Croatia, USA and Spain, the four Davis Cup semi-finalists from 2018, and wild-card entrants Great Britain and Argentina in the main draw of this new-format Davis Cup.
This first round of the 2019 Davis Cup, i.e. the qualifiers will be played between February 1 and 2 and will involve the following match-ups:
- Brazil v Belgium
- Uzbekistan v Serbia
- Australia v Bosnia/Herzegovina
- India v Italy
- Germany v Hungary
- Switzerland v Russia
- Kazakhstan v TBA
- Czech Republic v Netherlands
- Colombia v Sweden
- Austria v Chile
- TBA v Canada
- China v Japan
The selection of the two wild-card entrants was made by a committee that had the ITF president David Haggerty, vice president Rene Stammbach, one-time Spanish player Galo Blanco & Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique. Pique is the chief of Kosmos, the group that initiated the change in this Davis Cup format.
As mentioned, the winning teams from these qualifiers will feature in the main draw of the Davis Cup as a standalone tournament held at the same venue while the losing teams will go back to the Group I of the competition. They will feature in this Group I competition along with other teams from Group II with the top 12 again making it to the 2020 Davis Cup qualifiers.
The new format of the Davis Cup, called the World Cup of Tennis, hasn’t been cheered on by everyone with the ATP even expected to come out with their own version of a competition that will feature tennis teams from all the world as well.
It could be expected to be released in January 2019 and replace the Hopman Cup but more details are still awaited on that one.
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