2023-08-14 16:44:10
Carlos Alcaraz will be the leader of the Spanish Davis Cup team that will play the group stage of the competition from September 12 to 17 in Valencia. Alcaraz, a few days after playing the US Open, where he defends his title, will fly to Valencia to be the leader of a group that will also include Alejandro Davidovich, Roberto Bautista and Marcel Granollers.
«I see the team in a very good shape. The players are having a very good season,” said David Ferrer, Spanish captain at Davis. «Carlos has a very good dynamic and we are talking about the number one in the world. Alejandro is also having a great season and is a number two who can win every game. Roberto is a player who is always among the best and offers many alternatives, like Marcel who can also teach the youngest in doubles », he added.
In this group phase, Spain will face the Czech Republic at the Fuente de San Luis Pavilion on September 13, before playing Serbia on the 15th, with the doubt as to whether Novak Djokovic will attend, who declared at the beginning of the year that his intention was to play, and with South Korea, on Sunday the 17th. All the games will be from 3:00 p.m.
«We already know that in this new format doubles is going to be very important, but we have the team to qualify. Perhaps Serbia is the rival to beat, but we must not forget the Czech Republic with Lehecka, a player who wins many matches on hard courts, and a great doubles player”, added Ferrer.
The proximity of the US Open, which ends just three days before the Spanish debut in Davis, can be an inconvenience for the best in the world to attend the competition, but last year Alcaraz already moved to Spain with the New York trophy still hot under the arm and was under the command of the then captain, Sergi Bruguera.
Format
With this team, Spain has Alcaraz, number one, Davidovich, who has just made the semifinals in the Masters 1,000 in Canada and has the best ranking of his career (23), as well as veterans like Bautista and Granollers, who already know what is to win this competition. Ferrer will reveal a fifth player who will join the team in the coming weeks.
Each tie will be made up of two individual matches and one doubles match, and the two winners of each group will advance to the final phase that will be held at the Martín Carpena in Málaga, from November 21 to 26.
In case of qualifying, for Alcaraz it would be the opportunity to finally get even and play the final phase of the competition, after missing the 2021 edition due to contracting covid and the 2022 edition due to the abdominal tear that occurred in Paris-Bercy and that did not allow him to play in the Turin Masters Cup either.
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