6. Can Freddy Nielsen carry Denmark into Group I again?
Since saving Denmark from relegation to Group IV in 2005, Frederik Nielsen has been the Danish Davis Cup hero, time and time again. He got them to the Europe/Africa Group I in 2013, and have been going in and out. Now, in the promotional play-off to re-enter Group I, they face Belarus. So far in 2016, Denmark scored a shockingly easy win over Georgia, and then barely squeezed by Finland. At 33 years old, in the midst of a mediocre season, where his best results are a Futures title and a Challenger quarterfinal, can Freddy Nielsen still give such a good performance and to motivate his teammates enough to get back to World Group?
Belarus don’t have all their best players, but they are still huge favorites to get to Group I. The tie kicks off with Freddy Nielsen facing Yaraslau Shyla, who recently won back-to-back Futures tournaments in Minsk, where this tie is taking place. No. 167 Ilya Ivashka will play the unranked Andreas Bjerrehus. The doubles should make for the most exciting rubber, with former doubles No. 1 Max Mirnyi and Egor Gerasimov facing Thomas Kromann and Freddy Nielsen. This might not be the main story of the weekend, but it definitely will be interesting to follow what happens in this tie.
