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Davis Cup Final 2023 group stage |
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Location: AO Arena, Manchester Dates: September 12-17. |
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Cover: Streaming and broadcasting live text of GB links across the BBC Sport website, app and iPlayer |
The group stage of the Davis Cup Final begins this week with Great Britain one of 16 nations trying to get through to the knockout stage.
Great Britain take on Australia, France and Switzerland in their round-robin group games at Manchester’s AO Arena.
Andy Murray missed the 3-1 win over Colombia in February but is back in the squad, along with Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans, Neal Skupski and Jack Draper.
The top two from the British group will advance to November’s knockout stages.
“We can’t wait to play the Davis Cup in Manchester in front of a great home crowd,” said Great Britain captain Leon Smith.
“We have a great team with a lot of Davis Cup experience who will be ready to give it their all in a tough group with Australia, Switzerland and France.”
Murray, who was instrumental in Great Britain ending a 79-year wait for glory in the men’s team competition when they won in 2015, was left out of their qualifying victory on clay in Colombia.
Smith suggested the surface was not ideal for Murray, who at the time had played just three matches on clay since 2017.
Draper, 21, was the latest player to be added after making a run to the fourth round of the US Open, where he lost to Russian eighth seed Andrey Rublev.
Draper’s call also suggests that Smith will rely on Wimbledon doubles champion Skupski and Evans as his doubles partnership, having overlooked Joe Salisbury, who, along with the co- American partner Rajeev Ram, third US Open men’s doubles title on Friday.
Great Britain must finish in the top two of the four-team group, played from September 12 to 17, to progress to the final stages of the tournament in Malaga, Spain, from November 21 to 26.
What shape is it?
Four countries automatically qualified for the Finals group stage – last year’s winners Canada, runners-up Australia and wild cards Italy and Spain.
They are joined by 12 qualifiers – Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Serbia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.
The countries are divided into four groups of four. Group A plays in Bologna, Italy, Group B in Manchester, Group C in Valencia, Spain, and Group D in Split, Croatia.
Each link contains two single rubbers and one in doubles. The top two in each group after the round robin stage will move on to the knockout stage in Spain in November.
Fixtures (all 14:00 BST unless otherwise stated, groups in brackets)
Tuesday, September 12: Sweden v Chile (A), France v Switzerland (B, 13:00 BST), Serbia v South Korea (C), Netherlands v Finland (D)
Wednesday, September 13: Canada v Italy (A), Australia v Great Britain (B, 13:00 BST), Spain v Czech Republic (C), Croatia v United States (D)
Thursday, September 14: Canada v Sweden (A), Australia v France (B, 13:00 BST), Czech Republic v South Korea (C), Netherlands v United States (D)
Friday, September 15: Italy v Chile (A), Great Britain v Switzerland (B, 13:00 BST), Spain v Serbia (C), Croatia v Finland (D)
Saturday, September 16: Canada v Chile (A), Australia v Switzerland (B, 13:00 BST), Serbia v Czech Republic (C), USA v Finland (D)
Sunday, September 17: Italy v Sweden (A), Great Britain v France (B, 13:00 BST), Spain v South Korea (C), Croatia v Netherlands (D)
Who will Great Britain face?
Great Britain three players in the team – Norrie, Evans and Murray – are in the world’s top 45, and Skupski won the men’s doubles at Wimbledon in July with Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands.
Australia they are without Nick Kyrgios due to a wrist injury, while their strength in depth is shown by top 50 players Alexei Popyrin and Aleksandar Vukic not being included.
Alex de Minaur is ranked 12th in the world, while Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis are in the top 80. Max Purcell and Matthew Ebden won the men’s doubles at Wimbledon in 2022.
France a mix of youth and experience with 19-year-old Arthur Fils, who won the ATP Tour at the Lyon Open in May, alongside doubles specialists Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Nicolas Mahut, aged 39 and 41 respectively .
Top 40 players Ugo Humbert and Adrian Mannarino are also in the French team.
Switzerland he won the Davis Cup in 2014, but Roger Federer has not retired now, although three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, who was on the Swiss side that won nine years ago year, again appearing.
Dominic Stricker, 21, beat Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2023 US Open before losing in the last 16, whose team also includes Marc-Andrea Huesler and duplication experts Alexander Ritschard and Leandro Riedi.
