This is going to be a wonderful tennis weekend with the first round of the Davis Cup. Let’s see the ties and let’s give some predictions.
Canada – Spain
The tie will be played in Vancouver on indoor hard courts. Canada has Milos Raonic as their top player sided by Vasek Pospisil (world on.131).
Even if Spain can’t play with Nadal, Ferrer and Almagro, the European team seems to be the favorite with Granollers (rank no.34), Garcia-Lopez (ranked no.82) and Ramos (world no.51).
Raonic may win both single matches, but Pospisil is widely expeced to lose both. The tie will be decided by the doubles. Nestor-Raonic is a very good team, but Granollers-Lopez may be stronger.
It is going to be 3-2 for somebody… it should be Spain… just topick one.
Italy – Croatia
The Venue is Turin and it will be indoor clay courts.
Italy has a decent team with Seppi (ranked no.18), Fognini (no.44) and Lorenzi (no.61). Croatia has Cilic as their top player (no.13) and Dodig (no.59).
This is also very hard to pick as Seppi = Cilic and Fognini = Dodig.
It is going to be 3-2. Hard to choose the winner… we go for Italy has they play on the home soil!
Belgium – Serbia
The tie will be played on indoor clay courts
Serbia is the hot favorite also because Nole will take part of it.
Belgium has Goffin (ranked no.50) as their top players. Darcis (no.96) is expected to play the second single.
On the other side we have Nole (world no1!) and Troiki (no.39). The Serbian team has also a powerful Zimonjic to play doubles.
The prediction is 4-1 for Serbia as they may lose the dead rubber.
USA – Brazil
The venue is Jacksonville, indoor hard court.
USA team: Isner (rank no.16), Querrey (no.20) and the Bryans for doubles.
Brazilian Team: Bellucci (no.36), Alves (no.141).
We can only see a tough 5-0 for USA
France – Israel
This tie will be played in Rouen on indoor hard court.
The French team is 2 or 3 categories above the Israelian one to play with Tsonga (rank no.8), Gasquet (no.10), Benneteau (no.38) and LLodra (no.65)
The Israeli line up is Sela (no106), Weintraub (no.173), Erlich for doubles.
We can see only a terrible 5-0 for France.
Argentina – Germania
This tie will be played in Buenos Aires on outdoor clay courts (where else?).
The Argentinian team won’t have Del Potro (there are some “disagreements” between the team and Juan Martin) to have the following line up: Monaco (world no.12), Zeballos (no.71), Berloq (no.70), Nalbandian (no.88).
Germany has Kohlschreiber (no.10), Mayer (no.28), Kas for doubles.
It’s a difficult pick. We go for Argentina winning 3-2 as Monaco should win both singles, Berloq may lose both and Nalbandian-Zeballos look stronger than Kas-Kohlschreiber.
In addition… the local fans are quite passionate and that’s a wonderful support!
Kazakhstan – Austria
“Strange tie” here.
It will be played in Astana on indoor clay courts.
Kazakhstan line up: Kukushkin (world no.155), Golubev (no.187) and Shukin for doubles.
Austria will have Jurgen Melxer (world no.30), Haider-Maurer (no.107), Peya and Knowle for doubles.
Our pick is 3-2 for Austria as Melzer is widely expected to win both singles and Austria shouldn’t struggle to get at least one point in the other two matches. Kazakhstan may win the second point in a dead rubber.
Switzerland – Czech Republic
The match will be played in Geneva on indoor hard courts.
The Swiss can’t count on Federer (big bad news), but they have an inspired Wawrinka (world no.17), Laaksonen (world no.289) and Chiudinelli playing doubles with Wawrinka.
The Czech Team doesn’t have Stepanek (he sustained an operation), but thy can count on Berdych (world on.6), Rosol (no73), Minar and Vesely for doubles.
Prediction is 3-2 for Check Republic as Laaksonen is expected to lose both matches. Wawrinka should win only against Rosol. He may also upset Berdych, but we are not sure about who is going to win the doubles.
Czeck Republic has an edge.
