Croatia confronts tennis super powers in its Davis Cup defense.
The draw for the 2019 Davis Cup finals group stage was conducted in Madrid today and defending champion Croatia was set in Group B alongside host Spain and Russia, which boasts a pair of Top 20 players in Karen Khachanov and Daniil Medvedev countering Croatia's Marin Cilic and Borna Coric.
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The new 18-team, year-end, World Cup-style Davis Cup final will be staged in Madrid's Magic Box, November 18-24th.
Group F brings a North American border battle between 2018 semifinalist United States and Canada with Italy rounding out the group.
The Davis Cup finals will be held in a round robin format from Monday to Thursday, with the countries divided into six groups and each qualifying round consisting of three matches—two singles and one doubles—of best-of-three sets.
Champions of each group and the two best runners-up will reach the quarterfinals on Friday, while Saturday and Sunday will host the semifinals and the final.
The 12 winners from February's qualifying rounds joined four semifinalists from 2018 as well as two wild cards in the November Davis Cup final field.
While critics say the new format kills Davis Cup tradition, the ITF says the 25-year, $3 billion deal it signed with sponsor Kosmos will create a new player prize fund of $20 million, "elevating Davis Cup to Grand Slam prize money levels" and touts the partnership as creating "historic levels of investment into the global development of tennis through the ITF and its 210-member National Associations."
Photo credit: Davis Cup