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.

AUSTRIA

Rank: 16th

Captain: Stevan Koubek

The 16th ranked Austria will play host in Group F, with only one of the three sides having their main star in. The home nation will be without Dominic Thiem in what is a massive loss, though it is somewhat countered by Germany missing Alexander Zverev who opted to skip Davis Cup to set his sights on the ATP Cup in the new year. Though the huge threat will be Serbia, who not only have world number one Novak Djokovic, but a strong lineup that features a host of Top 50 players who are more reliably consistent than that of the other two nations, and in particular, Austria.

Grand Slam winner and world number nine Thiem might not have been the difference in the clash, but he would have given Austria a chance to proceed, especially had Djokovic opted not to play. Instead, the load will be thrust upon Dennis Novak, ranked 116th in the world. He will team up with Jurij Rodionov (131st) with the 297th Gerald Melzer the next highest, Melzer is a former Top 70 player and is coming off a title at Bogota where he shot up 124 ranking spots from the win.

The doubles combination is where the Austrians could come to play, with Oliver Marach and Philipp Oswald will be highly competitive, ranked 46th and 53rd respectively. They will be better at the format than the Serbian side, but the German duo of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz will be a far tougher pairing, ranked 12th and 25th in the world. If they can triumph in the doubles, it will be up to either Novak or Rodionov to cause an upset.

Prediction: 3rd in Group F

IN A SENTENCE: “Austria is the underdog in the group without Thiem, but are not without a chance in the doubles. If they can cause an upset in the singles, they are arguably the most likely of the six bottom sides to overthrow their highly-fancied opponents.”

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Picture credit: ATP Tour

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