American stars will join forces in a quest to recapture the Davis Cup.
U.S. Davis Cup captain Mardy Fish has named No. 10 Taylor Fritz, No. 17 Frances Tiafoe, No. 30 Tommy Paul and three-time Grand Slam doubles champion Jack Sock to the American squad for the 2022 Davis Cup Finals November 22-27th in Malaga, Spain.
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The United States is playing for a record-extending 33rd Davis Cup, and its first since 2007 when a squad of Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan brothers beat Russia to claim the Cup in Portland.
Davis Cup is the World Cup of Men’s Tennis and is the largest international team competition in world sport, with nearly 150 nations competing.
The Finals in Malaga are an eight-nation, single elimination bracket that will crown this year’s Davis Cup champion. Each matchup is a best-of-three competition featuring two singles and one doubles match, played on an indoor hard court.
The U.S. is scheduled to play its quarterfinal tie against Italy on November 24, at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET). The full Finals field and schedule can be viewed at the Davis Cup website.
The U.S. team reached this ultimate round of the Finals this year by defeating Colombia in the Qualifying round in March and then advancing from the 16-nation Group Stage last month in Glasgow, Scotland.
Fritz, 24, is the top-ranked American man at No. 10, breaking into the Top 10 for the first time after winning his third ATP singles title of the year in Tokyo this month, over teammate Tiafoe. The Californian has played in seven Davis Cup ties for the U.S. since debuting in 2019, when, at 21 years old, he became the youngest American to debut in the Top 25 since Andy Roddick in 2004.
Tiafoe, 24, is ranked a career-high No. 17 after turning in a breakout performance at the 2022 US Open, where he defeated Rafael Nadal en route to his first Grand Slam singles semifinal appearance. The Maryland native has represented the U.S. in Davis Cup since 2018 and earned his first Davis Cup victory at the 2021 Finals in Turin, Italy.
Paul, 25, is ranked No. 30 and is 3-1 in Davis Cup singles this year, including a 2-1 mark in the Group Stage in Glasgow that led the Americans to qualify for Malaga. A former junior French Open champion and 2020 Tokyo Olympian, Paul won his first ATP singles title in 2021 and has three wins over Top-5 opponents this year, including current No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz.
Sock, 30, has been ranked as high as No. 2 in doubles and No. 8 in singles and has competed in 14 Davis Cup ties since debuting in 2015. A three-time Grand Slam doubles champion and 2016 Rio Olympic mixed doubles gold medalist, Sock is 12-5 overall in Davis Cup play with a 6-2 mark in doubles.
The winner of the U.S. and Italy will play the winner of Germany vs. Canada in the semifinals on Saturday, November 26, at 1 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET). The championship tie will be played on Sunday, November 27, at 1 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET). Australia, Croatia, Netherlands and Spain are the other four nations competing in the Finals, which adopted this World Cup-like format in 2019.
The U.S. has played Italy in each of the last two iterations of the Davis Cup Finals, winning in 2019 and losing in 2021. The U.S. is 8-4 all-time against the Italians in a rivalry that dates back to 1928.
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