A NUMBER of top ATP Tour players will don their nation’s colours across both World Group I and World Group II in a bid to gain a second chance at qualifying for next year’s Davis Cup World Group. We take a look at the overall fixtures and some of the players to watch.

WORLD GROUP I:

[1] Serbia (5th) vs. Greece (38th)

The obvious World Group I fixture to watch, top seeds Serbia led by Novak Djokovic will face off against Stefanos Tsitsipas‘ Greece. Normally Tsitsipas will do enough by himself, winning two singles and playing doubles with his brother Petros, but upon drawing the Mediterranean nation, Djokovic knew the need to play and give his country best chance of bouncing back.

Serbia has far better depth as Miomir Kecmanovic and Dusan Lajovic are both ranked inside the Top 100, while 21-year-old Hamad Medjedovic is one to watch for the future at 137th. All three players are miles clear of Thanos Aristotelis who is way down at 718th in the world, which essentially means Tsitsipas will likely have to be Djokovic twice – once in singles and once in doubles to advance.

OTHER WORLD GROUP I FIXTURES:

[2] Croatia vs. Lithuania
[3] Sweden vs. India
[4] Kazakhstan vs. Denmark
Poland vs [5] South Korea
[6] Switzerland vs. Peru
Egypt vs. [7] Hungary
Norway vs. [8] Portugal
[9] Austria vs. Turkey
Chinese Taipei vs. [10] Bosnia & Herzegovina
[11] Israel vs. Ukraine
Japan vs. [12] Colombia

WORLD GROUP II:

Tunisia vs. [9] Ireland

Little known tennis nation Ireland took it right up to Austria in front of a fracas home crowd last year, with talented rising star Michael Agwi putting his name on teh map. The powerful but raw 21-year-old – who only celebrated his birthday last week – will again lead Ireland in what might be an underdog mission against Tunisia considering rankings, though his nation is ranked higher.

On the red clay of Tunis, Agwi and 1071st ranked Osgar O’Hoisin will face off against the likes of 227th ranked Aziz Dougas and 412th ranked Moez Echargui, both of whom might not have the talent of Agwi, but certainly the experience. Right now Tunisia is ranked 59th in the world, 10 spots below Ireland though each of Tunisia’s representatives is ranked higher than their respective opponents.

OTHER WORLD GROUP II FIXTURES:

[1] Romania vs. China
Hong Kong vs. [2] Ecuador
[3] Uzbekistan vs. Estonia
[4] Bulgaria vs. El Salvador
Barbados vs. [5] Pakistan
Togo vs. [6] Latvia
Georgia vs. [7] Mexico
[8] New Zealand vs. Luxembourg
[10] Lebanon vs. South Africa
[11] Morocco vs. Monaco
Bolivia vs. [12] Uruguay