The Croatia national team, the 2018 Davis Cup champion, will play in the upcoming competition’s ‘Group of Death’ with the host Spain and Russia.
This year, the Davis Cup will be played in a new format for the first time in its 108 year history. Namely, the World Group will take place in the same location, where the 18 national teams will be divided into six round-robin groups of three teams each. This stage will feature two singles matches and one doubles match, instead of the best-of-5 series.
In Thursday’s Davis Cup draw in the Spanish capital of Madrid, Croatia was grouped with Spain and Russia. Croatia coach Željko Krajan hoped for a better outcome, announces HTS on February 14, 2019.
Spain is likely to be led by the second-best tennis player in the world, Rafael Nadal, and Roberto Bautista Agut (17th), while Russia’s top players Karen Khachanov and Daniil Medvedev are ranked 11th and 16th on the ATP list.
“I do not know if it could have been worse. Everyone wanted to avoid Spain, both because of their strength and the fact that they are the host. If Rafael Nadal is going to play, he will be extremely strong, but even without him, they are a team with great players. Russia, with Khachanov, Medvedev, and Rublyov has strong and young resources who want to prove themselves, although they have already accomplished some great results and know how good they are. Surely, the draw did not help us, and by ranking and the names of the players, this is, without debate, the most difficult group. We will see who will play, but it will be attractive without a doubt,” said the coach of the Croatia national team, Željko Krajan.
The quarterfinal of this competition will feature the first-place teams from all six groups and the two best second-placed teams.
Davis Cup groups:
A: France, Serbia, Japan;
B: Croatia, Spain, Russia;
C: Argentina, Germany, Chile;
D: Belgium, Australia, Colombia;
E: United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, The Netherlands;
F: USA, Italy, Canada.
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