NEXT week the 2024 Davis Cup Finals kicks off with the round robin portion of the tournament and in the lead-up to the event, we preview each of the four groups. In today’s preview, we analyse Group C to see which of the four nations might advance to the knockout stage in November.

NATIONS:

4th. Germany
9th. United States
14th. Slovakia
15th. Chile

FIXTURE:

Sep 10: Germany vs. Slovakia
Sep 11: United States vs. Chile
Sep 12: Germany vs. Chile
Sep 13: United States vs. Slovakia
Sep 14: Germany vs. United States
Sep 15: Slovakia vs. Chile

TEAMS:

Germany: Yannick Hanfmann / Maximilian Marterer / Henri Squire | Kevin Krawietz / Tim Puetz
United States: Sebastian Korda / Marcos Giron / Brandon Nakashima | Rajeev Ram / Austin Krajicek
Slovakia: Lukas Klein / Jozef Kovalik / Alex Molcan | Norbert Gombos / Igor Zelenay
Chile: Alejandro Tabilo / Nicolas Jarry / Cristian Garin | Tomas Barrios Vera / Matias Soto

BURNING QUESTION?

Can Germany survive the group stage without Alexander Zverev?

World number four Germany usually books its place in the knockout stages thanks to the work of Alexander Zverev and top doubles pairing Krawietz and Puetz. However without Zverev and next choice Jan-Lennard Struff, a lot of weight will be on the shoulders of Hanfmann and Marterer. They should still take care of Slovakia, will lose to the United States, and then it comes down to what Chile comes out wht all three singles players having a large gap between their best and worst performances.

PREDICTION:

The United States are the obvious qualifier from Group C. They did not even bring their three best players due to their deep runs at the US Open, but should still clear the other three sides. Chile is the great unknown, while Germany heads in understrength, and Slovakia is usually the ‘best of the rest’ nation floating between the World Group Finals and Group I playoffs.