Playing for the first time since the 2023 Davis Cup final, Australia begins its 2024 campaign in Valencia in the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage, opening against France.
Valencia, Spain, 10 September 2024 | Matt Trollope
Australia begins its quest for a 29th Davis Cup title when a strong green-and-gold squad takes to the court this week for the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage.
Playing in Valencia in Group B alongside hosts Spain, plus France and Czech Republic, Australia is bidding to reach a third consecutive final in the team competition – and hopefully go one better.
Australia begins against France on Tuesday at 4pm local time (Wednesday 12am AEST), before taking on Czech Republic at the same time two days later, and Spain on Sunday (11am local time, 7pm AEST).
Despite Alex de Minaur having to withdraw due to injury, Australia is represented by Alexei Popyrin, Jordan Thompson, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Max Purcell and Matt Ebden – all players in excellent recent form.
“It makes it tougher, I guess, but it’s a good problem to have, that’s for sure. I’d rather it that way,” Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt said about selecting the team from such a strong current crop of players.
“All these boys always know that this is going to be a team effort, and it has been the last couple of years for us to make a run deep into the competition as well.
“We’ve been able to do that well, and the camaraderie’s great, I think we’ve got a great Australian culture going as well amongst all the boys, not just the guys that are playing, it’s all the support staff and the hitting partners and everyone that’s at the ties as well.
“Obviously it’s always a tough decision [regarding De Minaur’s hip injury], and Alex has done some incredible stuff in Davis Cup over the last three or four years now.
“But he’s been battling for a little while since Wimbledon, and he hasn’t really been close to 100 per cent, even at the US Open, which was obvious at times throughout that. So it was always going to be a massive challenge for him to get up to play here.
“He was desperate to, and yeah, in the end it really wasn’t much of a choice.”
Australia has not played since its 2023 final loss to Italy, and as a result of making that final, directly entered the 2024 Davis Cup Finals Group Stage without having to play a qualifying tie.
France presents a tough opening assignment, represented by top-25 players Ugo Humbert and…
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