Rafael Nadal and Marin Cilic are the latest big stars to be nominated for April’s Davis Cup World Group Quarter-Finals.
Davis Cup has been under great criticism in the past few years for the big stars not playing Davis Cup, which has lead to a proposal in changing the current format. However the Quarter-Finals of the World Group will see some big names in action, including the new world number one Rafael Nadal and former US Open champion Marin Cilic. Here are all the Quarter-Finals and team nominations in full:
Italy v France
Italy will host reigning Davis Cup champions France in the first Davis Cup Quarter-Final, which will take place on an outdoor clay court in Genoa. The Italians have recalled marathon man Fabio Fognini after his epic display against Japan in the first round. He has been joined by Paolo Lorenzi, Andreas Seppi, Simone Bolleli and rising Italian Matteo Berrettini. They will face a French team that is lead by their hero from last year, world number 10 Lucas Pouille. He will be joined by Adrian Mannarino, Jeremy Chardy as well as strong doubles duo Pierre-Hughes Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.
This is sure to be the best Quarter-Final of April’s ties and should be a close affair as long as Fabio Fognini plays his supreme best.
Spain v Germany
The second Quarter-Final will see Spain host Germany on an outdoor clay court in Valencia. The hosts have made one change from their 3-1 victory over Great Britain in February and it is a very significant change as new world number one Rafael Nadal will replace Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the side. The 16 time grand slam champion was last seen on court retiring to Marin Cilic at the Australian Open and last played a Davis Cup tie in 2016. Nadal will be joined Pablo Carreno Busta, Feliciano Lopez, Roberto Bautista Agut and David Ferrer.
Meanwhile the visitors will have world number four Alexander Zverev and in-form Philipp Kohlschreiber. The two singles players will be joined by Jan-Lennard Struff, Tim Puetz and Maxximilian Marterer. The tie is set to be a very good contest given that Zverev’s first masters 1000 title came on clay. Despite this Spain will be favourites on the clay of Valencia, which you can see being constructed below:
👀 Watch as the court in 🇪🇸 Valencia takes shape!
(🎥 courtesy of @spaintenis) pic.twitter.com/UvUdOtrzUF
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) March 27, 2018
Croatia v Kazakhstan
The third Quarter-Final will see Croatia host Kazakhstan on an indoor clay court in Varazdin. Croatia have gone with a strong team once again which is lead by world number three Marin Cilic, who will hope to use his experience to great use next weekend. He will be joined by talented Croatian Borna Coric, Viktor Galovic, Ivan Dodig and Nikola Mektic. Meanwhile heavy ubderdogs Kazakhstan have gone with Mikhail Kukushkin, Aleksandr Nedovyesov, Dmitry Popko, Timur Khabibulin and Denis Yevseyev.
USA v Belgium
The final Quarter-Final will see the USA host Belgium on a hard court in Nashville. The USA will be heavy favourites for this tie as they have three top 20 players available in Sam Querreyy, Jack Sock and John Isner. They will be joined by Steve Johnson and Ryan Harrison. Meanwhile Belgium will be without main player David Goffin as he is still recovering from an eye injury so Ruben Bemelmans, Joris De Loore, Joran Vliegen and Sander Gille will make up the Belgium team.
The Davis Cup Quarter-Finals commence from the 6th-8th of April.
