The office of the international tennis federation confirmed this Monday morning which nations were designated, given the exclusion, two weeks ago, of Russia and Belarus due to the armed conflict in Ukraine, to replace those- here in the next editions of the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup.
Holders of the former Fed Cup, Russia will be replaced by Australia, semi-finalists in 2021 and with the highest ranking of teams not qualified for the final. Slovakia, which the Aussies were to meet in a qualifying round, is also directly promoted to the finals, as is Belgium, which was to meet Belarus on April 15 and 16 in the preliminary round. These three nations join the already qualified finalist, Switzerland. Seven other nations will play their play-offs in April. The host country for the competition has yet to be announced.
A new Davis Cup wildcard
Also defending champion in the men’s Davis Cup, Russia should have been replaced, according to the same principle of ranking, by Serbia. But this one already having a wild card for the final phase, the organizers will announce the attribution of a new invitation, whose recipient will be designated among the 12 teams which lost their play-off (disputed on March 4 and 5 last). The wild card will therefore fall into the hands of one of the following nations: Austria, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Romania, Finland, Hungary, Japan, Norway, Czech Republic or Slovakia.
In addition to Serbia, the other qualifiers for the finals are Croatia, runners-up 2021, Great Britain (wild-card), and the 12 winners of the qualifying round – Germany, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, South Korea , Spain, United States, France, Italy, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Sweden. The group stage of the finals will be organized from September 14 to 18 in four cities in September before the reception by a fifth host city, from November 23 to 27, of the quarters, semis and the final.
Belarus also excluded, it is Mexico which regains its place in the Davis Cup, in world group 1.
