IN the first of our Davis Cup group previews, we take a look at Group A. The almighty French side is tipped to finish top, but fans can not discount the Novak Djokovic factor for Serbia, while Japan will enter the tournament as underdogs given Kei Nishikori is not available.

Group A

France
Gael Monfils
Benoit Paire
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Pierre-Hugues Herbert
Nicolas Mahut
Captain: Sebastien Grosjean

Japan
Yoshihito Nishioka
Yasutaka Uchiyama
Yuichi Sugita
Taro Daniel
Ben McLachlan
Captain: Satoshi Iwabuchi

Serbia
Novak Djokovic
Dusan Lajovic
Filip Krajinovic
Viktor Troicki
Janko Tipsarevic
Captain: Nenad Zimonjic

Fixtures:

Tuesday, November 19 – France vs. Japan
Wednesday, November 20 – Serbia vs. Japan
Thursday, November 21 – France vs. Serbia
Friday, November 22 – Winner of Group A vs. Runner-up 1 or 2

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Preview:

France is seeded number one in the tournament for a reason. With four players inside the top 100 and the 195th ranked Nicolas Mahut ranked third overall in doubles, the depth of the side is unrivalled across the board. The importance of depth is never more so important than the fact that there are just two singles and one doubles per match under the format, so picking the right players for the three matches is crucial. Top 10 ranked Gael Monfils is the obvious choice to play a singles every match, but Benoit Paire (24th) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (29th) are going to make Sebastian Grosjean‘s decision for the second singles very difficult to determine. With Mahut the third ranked doubles player, expect Grosjean to team him up with Pierre-Hugues Herbert (14th) in the doubles to make it a formidable combination. It does mean that one of Paire or Tsonga will likely sit out a match but resting them would not be completely irresponsible given the close proximity of games.

Japan enters the tournament without its number one player in Nishikori, which is a huge blow for the Asian nation. It means that Yoshihito Nishioka and Yasutaka Uchiyama – ranked 70th and 78th respectively will have to lead the charge in the singles. Yuichi Sugita (107) and Taro Daniel (111) will be that support depending on form, while the New Zealand-born Ben McLachlan is the specialist doubles player at 44. Satoshi Iwabuchi has a tough choice on his hands, because McLachlan is the only player ranked inside the top 200 for doubles, and Nishioka is the next highest in the side at 289. It means he may have to sacrifice a singles match to play Nishioka in the doubles, and bring up either Sugita or Daniel into the second singles slot, or take a chance on the 715th ranked Daniel to team up with McLachlan. No-one would be expecting them to progress past the group stage, especially with the group they have been dealt, but having the underdogs status is not always a bad thing.

Serbia would have been thrilled knowing that Djokovic was going to represent his country in the tournament, with the world number two more often than not a win on the board before you think about the rest of the calculations. But now Serbia has quite an arsenal of players to pick from for the second singles, with Dusan Lajovic (35th) and Filip Krajinovic (40th) the two in form, while Viktor Troicki and Janko Tipsarevic are both top 100 players at their best, despite being ranked outside the top 150. Lajovic is the highest ranked doubles player for the nation in the squad at 108, and while Djokovic is the second ranked one, expect Nenad Zimonjic to lean towards Janko Tipsarevic in that role. It means that Djokovic and Krajinovic will play the singles and Lajovic and Tipsarevic will team up in the doubles. While Djokovic will likely win his match, the Serbians will be underdogs in the second singles and doubles, though should win all three against Japan.

Predictions:

France defeat Japan 3-0
Serbia defeat Japan 3-0
France defeat Serbia 2-1

France advance to next round, while Serbia is a possible to gain a Runner-up spot (and possibly play France two days in a row).