AUSTRALIA will need to be at its very best in the 2024 Davis Cup Finals to survive the group stage and reach back-to-back finals at the event. After coming runners-up to Italy last year, the Aussies will head to Valencia, Spain where they take the host nation as well as Czech Republic and France.

The 16-team round robin competition sees four groups of four compete across four different cities in September, with the draw taking place overnight. Three of those four host cities are Valencia, Manchester (England), and Bologna (Italy) who all have teams competing in the Finals. The fourth host city – Zhuhai in China – was the location handed to Group C once the other three nations were drawn into the groups.

From the groups of four, the top two nations in each group will advance to the knockout stage of the Davis Cup Finals which takes place in Malaga in November.

The draw itself saw the top two seeds – Italy and Australia – put into groups A and B respectively, with fourth seeds Germany randomised into Group C, with third seeds Canada drawing Group D. From there, the next four ranked nations – Netherlands, Czech Republic, USA and Finland – were all randomly drawn into the respective groups.

Great Britain was in Pot 3 which had to be randomised into one of the three groups – outside of Group A which Italy is hosting – and was drawn Group D. The remaining three sides – Belgium, France and Slovakia – were allocated their pots.

The same process was adopted for Spain in Pot 4, which was by far the toughest team in the pot, and had to go to either Group B or Group C. Unfortunately for Australia, as well as Czech Republic and France, the Spanish side landed in Group B which meant those three nations were off to Valencia.

The three remaining nations – Brazil, Chile and Argentina – were drawn into the remaining spots, while Group C – the only group without a host nation – was therefore allocated to Zhuhai in China.

Davis Cup Finals Tournament Director Feliciano Lopez – who revealed the nations – joked that he would not be popular back in his home nation of Spain, particularly with Davis Cup captain, David Ferrer.

“I think that David won’t be very happy,” Lopez said after the draw. “The group in Valencia seems to be the strongest one with Australia, Spain, France and Czechia. Not very good news for Spain, but I think they have a good chance to qualify for Malaga this time.

“It’s very difficult to say which nations will qualify or Malaga. I’m just looking forward to another great week of tennis with a lot of passion and excitement and I’m hoping to welcome people from different nations in the world who are competing in Malaga. I think that is what Davis Cup is all about.”

While Group B is easily the strongest with all four nations a chance of qualifying for the top two spots, Group D is also difficult to predict. Canada and Great Britain will go in as favourites to advance, but Argentina has three top 30 players and can step up on the international stage, while Finland shocked the world by reaching the Davis Cup semi-finals last year.

Group A and Group C seem more straight forward with Italy and Netherlands the obvious choices to advance from the former, while Germany and USA are clearly the strongest nations in the latter.

The Davis Cup Finals Group Stage takes place between September 10-15, with each contest featuring two singles and one doubles in a best-of-three tie.

Last year Australia’s side was headlined by Alex de Minaur who is inside the top 10 currently, while doubles pairing Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell went undefeated, helping Australia reach the final. The second singles player was a mix between Thanasi Kokkinakis and Jordan Thompson, with a similar approach likely to be taken in 2024.

GROUP A: Bologna, Italy

[1] Italy
Netherlands
Belgium
Brazil

GROUP B: Valencia, Spain

[2] Australia
Czech Republic
France
Spain

GROUP C: Zhuhai, China

[4] Germany
USA
Slovakia
Chile

GROUP D: Manchester, England

[3] Canada
Finland
Great Britain
Argentina