Davis Cup begins with Latino participation

The 119th edition of this traditional championship began on November 18, where after 100 years the format of the tournament was completely changed, thanks to the initiative of the Kosmos group, belonging to Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué; In addition to investing about $ 3 billion, as reported by Scope.

The changes bring a step of the traditional World Group qualifiers, and that meant in a final which both the venue and the surface were chosen by the host, to a system with groups and qualifiers in which the only objective is to reach the final.

The eliminatory phase will take place from November 18 to 21, in which the last four semifinalists will participate last year (France, Croatia and which is the current champion, Spain and the United States); two invited countries: United Kingdom and Argentina; and the twelve winners of the qualifiers that took place in February: Germany, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Serbia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and Russia, as As recalls.

The groups

As we indicated, until November 21, the qualifiers will be held in the newly implemented group stage, which are composed of 18 teams divided into six groups of three countries each.

In this way, each team plays against the other two teams in their group, in a series of two singles and one doubles matches, "to three sets with a tie-break, winning the first team that adds two wins," according to the same medium. Also, the first matches will be played by the number two of each country, followed by the number one and finally the last doubles match.

After the elimination phase, the teams that go to the quarterfinals will be those who finish leaders in their respective groups, added to the “two best seconds for sets and games won”, as explained by the official tournament page.

Read also: Serena Williams is taking it to another level

Latin American teams

Among the participants, eleven have already been champions of the tournament, with the United States having the most cups (32); however, since 2007 he has not been able to win a title again. On the other hand, there is no doubt that Croatia, the current champion, has great opportunities to repeat.

However, three Latin American countries will show their faces in the region. First, Argentina and Chile, both in group C will meet in Spanish afternoon hours (4:00 pm). For the Argentine team, it will be a new opportunity to take home the trophy, because in 2016 they raised the cup when they won over Croatia.

The Argentine team hopes to repeat what was achieved in 2016, by the hand of Diego Schwartzman, Guido Pella, Horacio Zeballos, Máximo González, and Leonardo Mayer. This last one affirms for the half Scope that “we have been champions does not change anything. Nerves mark the importance. If I didn't have them, it's because I don't care. Knowing how to handle them is difficult. ” Under the orders of coach Gastón Gaudio, Argentina will try to be one of the six lucky ones to go directly to the qualifying phase and win the first match against Chile.

The other side of the coin of the first match is Chile, whose team is awarded by Cristian Garin, Nicolás Jarry, Alejandro Tabilo, Tomás Barrios and Hans Podlipnik. As expected, the illusion of the team is focused on being able to move to the quarterfinals and, little by little, reach the final. If successful, it would be the first time since 1976 that Chileans would reach the last stage of the tournament.

As Publimetro Chile describes it, the Chilean team arrives with better numbers than the Argentines in the first match, which will be played between Nicolás Jarry and Guido Pella. “The Prince (Jarry) leads 3-0 against Argentina. The last meeting was in the ATP of Sao Paulo 2018, where the Chilean won 6-7 (2), 6-4 and 7-6 (2), ”says the media. However, the Argentine is number 25 worldwide, while its counterpart is 77.

Meanwhile, the Colombian team, represented by Juan Sebastián Cabal, Robert Farah, Alejandro Gonzales, Santiago Giraldo, and Daniel Elahi Galán already added their first defeat. In Monday’s first game, Giraldo pitted Belgian Steve Darcis 6-3 and 6-2.

According to La FM, “Giraldo was not fine, he made several unforced errors and, despite the good percentage of points earned with the first service, he could not specify too many aces”, a situation that the Belgian took advantage of because he dominated the game from the beginning.

In the second match against the Belgians, it was between Daniel Galán and David Goffin. The Colombian, and while dominating the first set, lost control of the game against the Belgian, who won 6-3, 3-6 and 3-6. The three sets were at odds, because on several occasions the Colombian put Goffin in trouble, and, according to Caracol “despite the good moment of the Colombian, the Belgian brought out his ranking in the world ranking to break in the seventh”.

In the last game of the day the Colombian team, and with Cabal and Farah, managed to win in the doubles category, after an exciting match that ended 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 and lasted more than two hours. Although Colombia lost the series, it is expected that on November 19 the Colombian team will play again, but this time against Australia, a complicated picture, as AS reminds us, “If Colombia expects to move on to the second round of the tournament it must win to Australia and expect Belgium to do the same on November 20 to be in the top eight. ”