This week does not include any ATP level tournaments, but just a few days after the end of Grand Slam emotions, the national teams compete for the place in this year's edition of Davis Cup Finals. The second and decisive round of qualifiers starts tomorrow with 14 nations competing in 7 ties for the place alongside Italy who are the hosts of the final event in Bologna between 18th and 23rd of November. Let's take a look at the breakdown of the qualifiers ties and line-ups including some top names from the ATP Tour.
USA vs Czechia - Delray Beach (Hard, Outdoor)
That's an absolute top out of all ties with the stellar line-ups in comparison to all the others. Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe will represent hosts against two top 20 Czech players - Jakub Mensik and Jiri Lehecka. The American squad was supposed to be even stronger, however Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul withdrew after injuries they sustained during the US Open. Fritz plays a great season, being the top ranked American and one of the best servers on the tour, however he still lacks the trophy on hard courts this season. The 11th consecutive loss to Djokovic in Flushing Meadows was also surely bitter to swallow. Tiafoe does not play the best of his seasons, however his summer campaign was quite decently consistent. He was a quarterfinalist in Washington losing to Shelton, made it into the round of 16 in Toronto and Cincinnati. The defeat to Jan Lenard Struff in the third round of the US Open was an upset and denied him the clash against Novak Djokovic.
Jiri Lehecka and Jakub Mensik look like they grew up to the promising potential they showed in the previous two years. Lehecka was a quarterfinalist at the USO, although having no answer for the crushing form of Carlos Alcaraz. He preceded this run with a good summer in America, being in the round of 16 of ATP 1000 events where he came up short to Fritz and Shelton. Mensik is the sensational ATP 1000 champion from Miami, which he earned by putting upsets on Djokovic in the final and Fritz in the semifinal. The summer campaign was not too successful for the 20-year-old though, as he did not manage to win two consecutive matches in any of the events there. Although Lehecka and Mensik are nominated for singles, Tomas Machac is also there - playing doubles together with Adam Pavlasek against the top doubles specialists - Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram. The Americans are surely favorites of this tie. The Czechs had the worst luck in the draw, as they could possibly easily win against any other team in qualifiers, however they need to seek upsets on the opening day of singles on Friday.
Australia vs Belgium - Sydney (Hard, Outdoor)
The Aussies are huge favorites to take a place in the finals, while playing against Belgium on home soil with their two best racquets being ready to make the job done for their country. The world number 8, recent quarterfinalist of the US Open and champion of the ATP 500 event in Washington from last month is an absolute leader of his team and favorite to bring two previous singles victories. Alexei Popyrin is his companion there. Popyrin plays quite a poor season as for his standards, being down to 40th in the rankings and winning just 7 out of 18 matches on hard this season. However, he has shown glimpses of good form from last year, making it into the quarterfinals in Toronto, which was the only highlight of his season on hard courts so far. Jordan Thompson is another valuable option in singles, but destined to pair up with Matthew Ebden as a winning doubles pairing in this tie.
Belgium managed to win the home game against Chile in the first round of qualifiers. Zizou Bergs is their biggest hope to try to get competitive against the hosts in Sydney. The world number 46 plays a decent season on hard courts with 15 wins in 27 matches, being quite an effective and consistent player on return. This time Belgium needs to manage with the absence of Alexander Blockx who was part of the team winning against Chile. They will rely on Raphael Collignon, who put one of the biggest upsets of the men's US Open, defeating Casper Ruud in 5 sets on the road to his career's best achievement - the third round in a Grand Slam. Belgium needs to count on upsets in every scenario. Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen are most probably going to be their doubles pairing - the players who do not compete in singles, but are ranked 58th and 67th in the doubles ranking.
Spain vs Denmark - Marbella (Clay, Outdoor)
The US Open champion and new world ranking leader Carlos Alcaraz has pulled out of the squad, which is poor information for the hosts, however Alcaraz learns from his mistakes from previous years. His overloaded 2022 season did include playing Davis Cup just after the US Open and had implications in struggling with fatigue and injuries in the following months. Despite this absence, the Spaniards have a competent squad full of clay court specialists - Jaume Munar who is lately rising also on hard courts, being in the round of 16 of the US Open and celebrating his career's highest ranking (37th) at the age of 28. Pedro Martinez and Roberto Carballes Baena are also proven clay courters, while Pablo Carreno Busta is slowly building back his ranking (123rd now) after being sidelined for a long time due to injuries.
When Spain lacks their top star, Holger Rune leads the Danish pack following their epic victory over Serbia in February. Rune and Elmer Moller were 0-2 down after the first day of singles, but won their matches to make the most exciting comeback victory of the first qualifiers round. Clay courts suit Moller very well, as the world number 113 prefers this surface much over hard (no victories on hard courts this season), although still mostly grinding on the challenger level (won in Iasi in July and in Oeiras in April). Denmark needs to fully rely on Rune and some possible upset victory from Moller, as Spain has a very consistent squad and has much more depth both in singles and doubles.
Croatia vs France - Osijek (Clay, Indoor)
The Croatian mix of generations will try to stop the huge servers from France in one of two ties played on clay, but the only one on clay indoor in Osijek. The 37-year-old Marin Cilic is surely past his prime, but made his best to come back into the top 100 of the rankings, mainly due to commitment in the Challenger Tour. He was the runner-up in the Madrid Challenger on clay in April and managed to qualify into the main draw of Roland Garros, but easily lost to Flavio Cobolli in the first round. The 19-year-old Dino Prizmic grinds very well in challengers, being twice a winner and twice runner-up on clay, but is yet to prove his value on the main tour (played just in ATP 250 Umag making it into the quarterfinals in July).
The French team relies on Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Corentin Moutet. The first is a super explosive server with an average of 12.7 aces scored per match this season. This is not always translated into results, as he has a poor record of 12 wins and 19 losses with just 2 matches out of 8 won on clay. Moutet managed to make it into the round of 16 in ATP 1000 in Rome in May, with his season being better (21 wins to 18 losses). While the form of singles in both teams can be not too reliable, doubles will be an important match where Croatia is a strong favorite represented by Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic - the world numbers 3 and 10 in doubles.
Netherlands vs Argentina - Groningen (Hard, Indoor)
The runners-up of last year's final event got a bye in the opening round and will try to make it into the finals again in the tricky tie against Argentina. Their weapons are not extremely impressive though - Botic Van De Zandschulp is slowly bouncing back after the slump in rankings. He was the finalist in ATP 250 Winston Salem, which secured him from dropping down from the top 100 of the rankings. Jesper De Jong has won just 3 matches in main draws on ATP level - all in Montpellier at the end of January. This line-up is quite a shortage in comparison to Argentinians led by Francisco Cerundolo. The world number 21 proves this season that he is not just clay oriented, having 11 wins on hard in 17 matches including a run into the quarters in Indian Wells. He will play singles alongside Tomas Martin Etcheverry who seems to be on the level of the Dutch opponents. The tie starts on Friday with a match between second racquets - De Jong vs. Etcheverry and will be followed by Van De Zandschulp vs Cerundolo. The South Americans have also the advantage on paper in terms of doubles, having the competent pairing of Horacio Zeballos and Andres Molteni - ranked 5th and 19th in the doubles list.
Hungary vs Austria - Debrecen (Hard, Indoor)
The Hungarians made quite an upset over Canada in the first round of qualifiers, delivering the unexpected away victory playing against a weakened host line-up without Felix Auger Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov. They can follow that victory with another one playing at home against Austria and looking like favorites of this tie. Marton Fucsovics will be their top racquet, just 3 weeks after winning the ATP 250 in Winston Salem. Interestingly, those were his first matches won on hard courts in the ATP Tour this season, as the 33-year-old has made quite a step back, playing more in Challengers this year - including the victory in Manama in February. He played an important part in the first round, scoring two singles victories over the Canadians. Fabian Marozsan has established himself in the mid pack of the ATP Tour. The world number 56 won 11 out of 22 matches on hard this year with the run into the third round of the Australian Open.
The line-up of Austria is not especially impressive with Filip Misolic being the only top 100 player there. Misolic builds his ranking mostly in the Challenger Tour. He played just 11 matches in the ATP Tour this year, winning 7 of those at clay courts - including the quarterfinal in Bucharest and third round at Roland Garros - the highlight of his season. He played just one main draw match in Winston Salem, without success though. The world number 158 Jurij Rodionov will be the second singles player from Austria. Both teams have no potent doubles players in their squad, so the tie can get interesting if Austria manages to put some upsets over Fucsovics and Marozsan in singles although they are not favorites there in the away game.
Japan vs Germany - Tokyo (Hard, Indoor)
Here is the tie without any clear favorites, however Japan made quite an upset over Great Britain in February. Kei Nishikori is not playing due to injury, while the hosts need to rely on Shintaro Mochizuki and Yoshihito Nishioka. Mochizuki managed to scrape through qualifiers at the US Open to make it into the second round of the main draw, same as he did previously at Wimbledon. Nishioka plays the worst season in years, sliding down to 153rd in the rankings and being on a streak of 7 consecutive losses. He won just one of his last 16 matches, tracking a victory in the first round in Washington in July.
Germany travels to Japan without their best racquets. Alexander Zverev was not called up for the national team, while Daniel Altmaier still recovers after his famous run in the US Open, where he won two marathon matches over Stefanos Tsitsipas and Hamad Medjedovic. However, Jan Lenard Struff comes to Tokyo after a successful campaign in New York, where he made it into the round of 16 out of qualifiers, defeating Holger Rune and Frances Tiafoe on the road. Yannick Hanfmann's form is a mystery there - the experienced former world number 45 is out of the top 100 now, playing mostly in challengers. He prefers clay the most right now - his last match on ATP Tour level on hard courts was the defeat in the opening round of the Australian Open. However, the Europeans will rely on their doubles pairing - experienced Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, ranked 12th and 13th in their profession.