The draw of the Davis Cup Finals took place at the ITF headquarters in London on Tuesday. The Finals Group Stage will take place from 10 to 15 September 2024 across four cities: Bologna (Group A), Valencia (Group B), Zhuhai (Group C) and Manchester (Group D).
Last year’s Davis Cup champions Italy will face Belgium, the Netherlands and Brazil. Italy lifted the Davis Cup trophy for the first time since 1976 with a team featuring 2024 Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner, Matteo Arnaldi, Lorenzo Musetti and Lorenzo Sonego and will be looking to defend their title. The Italian team will have home advantage at the Unipol Arena in Bologna, one of the four host cities selected by the ITF. Italy boasts seven players in the top ten. The Netherlands lost to Italy in the quarter finals at last year’s edition of the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga. The Dutch team features Tallon Griekspoor and Botic Van de Zandschulp.
Last year’s runners-up Australia will play in Group B in Valencia alongside home team Spain, Czechia and France.
Australia will feature seven players in the top 100, including top 10 Alex De Minaur, who recently reached the final In Rotterdam and won his second consecutive title in Acapulco, and Jordan Thompson, who recently won the title in Los Cabos.
Spain could feature world number 2 Carlos Alcaraz, who won the Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells, world number 28 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and doubles world number 9 Marcel Granollers.
Czechia came away from the group stage with a perfect 9-0 record last year. The Czech team will feature three top 100 players Jiri Lehecka, Tomas Machac, Jakub Mensik, who reached the final at the ATP 250 tournament in Doha, top 100 doubles players Adam Pavlasek and Petr Nouza.
Last year Australia beat Czech Republic 2-1 in the quarter finals.
France is one of the strongest teams, as ten French players are ranked in the top 100. The French team features world number 15 Ugo Humbert, who won two titles in Marseille and Dubai this year, Adrian Mannarino, last year’s Next Gen Finals runner-up Arthur Fils, veteran Gael Monfils and doubles specialist Edouard Roger Vasselin.
“Spain has probably the toughest opponents in these finals, in my opinion the strongest group. I think that David Ferrer won’t be happy. The group in Valencia seems to be the strongest one with Australia, Spain, France and Czechia. It’s not very good news for Spain, but I think they have a great chance to have a good chance to qualify for Malaga this time. It’s very difficult to say which nations will qualify for Malaga. I am just looking forward to another great week for tennis, with a lot of passion and excitement and I am hoping to welcome people from different nations in the world who are competing in Malaga. I think that is what Davis Cup is all about”, said Davis Cup Finals Tournament Director Feliciano Lopez, who oversaw the Davis Group Draw.
The Chinese city of Zhuhai will host Group C that features Germany, the United States, Slovakia and Chile. The Davis Cup Group Stage will be held on Chinese soil for the first time. Zhuhai was chosen even though China is not involved.
The United States are the most successful nation in the Davis Cup history with 32 titles. Four US players are ranked in the top 25: Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, who reached the semifinal in Indian Wells last week, Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe.
Great Britain will have home advantage in Group D as they take on Canada, Finland and Argentina at the A0 Arena in Manchester. Last year Dan Evans and Neal Skupski saved match points to beat France in the deciding match in last year’s group stage of the Davis Cup in Manchester. Last year the British team defeated Australia, Switzerland and France to finish top of Group B but lost to Serbia in the quarter finals. The GB team are one of two wild card teams automatic qualification for the Finals Group Stage and hope to count on the experience of two-time Olympic champion Andy Murray.
The Canadian team led by Felix Auger Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov won the Davis Cup title in 2022. Canada failed to defend their title last year, as Auger Aliassime was forced to watch from the sidelines due to injury. The Canadian team come into this year’s event as the third seeded nation. They reached the top 8 last season but lost to Finland 2-1 in the quarter finals. The North American team beat South Korea 3-1 in the qualifying tie to secure their spot in the Finals.
Finland surprisingly got through to the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time in 2023. The Finnish team beat former champions Croatia, USA and Canada en route to the semifinals, where they lost to Australia. Finland beat Portugal 3-1 in their Qualifier to reach the Finals.
Argentina boasts three top 30 players Sebastian Baez (world number 19), Francisco Cerundolo (world number 30) and Tomas Martin Etcheverry (world number 30). Four-time Davis Cup champions Argentina missed out on a place in the Finals last year. The South American team beat Kazakhstan 3-2 in their Qualifier last February to reach the Finals Group Stage.
Argentina beat Great Britain 3-2 in the semifinals in 2016 in their most recent Davis Cup tie.
The top two teams from each group qualify for the Final 8 knockout phase in Malaga next November.
