IN November, the 2021 Davis Cup takes place across three cities in Europe as 18 teams aim to lift the ultimate international men’s team prize. Six groups of three sees the group winner automatically advancing to the knockout quarter finals, with the two next best nations also moving through. In the lead-up to the event, Rookie Me Central will be previewing each of the nations in reverse world ranking order.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Rank: 18th

Captain: Jaroslav Navratil

Whilst Czech Republic are a powerhouse nation in the women’s Billie Jean King Cup tournament, the same could not be said of the country in the men’s. Ranked 18th in the world, and the third lowest ranked nation at the Davis Cup Finals, the European country will be up against it when they face France and Great Britain in Austria. The French are perennially a strong country despite going through a rebuilding phase, whilst the Great Britain quartet could be the dark horse in Group C.

But focusing our attention on Czech Republic, it is great to see some young guns earning spots in the squad in a bid to drive the team back to its former glories. It might be easy for some to forget the Czech Republic won back-to-back Davis Cup titles in 2012-13, their first as a republic, having won its only other title back in 1980 as Czechoslovakia. Despite the back-to-back titles, it was somewhat of a shock given it was just the two pairing of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek, both ranked high in the world, but having little rest also playing the doubles.

Now the current squad is led by 28-year-old Jiri Vesely who is ranked 78th in the world, but is always a danger. It would not be a complete shock for him to cause some issues against higher ranked opponents, but it does drop off after that. Young guns Tomas Machac and Jiri Lehecka are 21 and 19-years-old respectively, joining Zdenek Kolar as four players inside the Top 200. The big issue is, they will have to win both singles against higher ranked opponents such as Ugo Humbert and the in-form Daniel Evans and Cameron Norrie, because the other two doubles pairings are ranked in the Top 20. The Czech Republic’s top doubles pairing would be Zdenek Kolar (126th) and Vit Kopriva (292nd) who are regularly doubles representatives.

Prediction: 3rd in Group C

IN A SENTENCE: “Czech Republic are not without a chance of taking a singles tie through Vesely, but winning the second singles match, or a doubles, are both incredibly unlikely, so it makes sense they finish in third.”

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Picture credit: Getty Images

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