Malaga has been chosen to host the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of the Davis Cup in 2022 and 2023, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced on Wednesday, while the option of a neutral city had been put forward few months ago.
The final phase of the new formula Davis Cup, developed since 2019 and hitherto contested in a single block at the end of the season, is this time divided into two stages: a group phase with sixteen teams scheduled for mid-September (from 14 at 18) in four cities then the knockout phase maintained at the end of November.
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«The Spanish city of Malaga will host the knockout stage of the 2022 Davis Cup finals. The matches will be played on hard courts indoors at the Sports Palace, from November 21 to 27Write the organizers, the ITF and the Kosmos promoter, stating that “the city was retained for two years».
In early December, on the sidelines of the 2021 edition, when Abu Dhabi was expected to host the final phase of the next edition, Kosmos had only expressed a “preferential option“existing and was hoping for an announcement”in the next weeks».
Malaga being one of the four cities selected in mid-March to host one of the group stage groups in September – with Bologna (Italy), Glasgow (Great Britain) and Hamburg (Germany) -, a call for applications to replace the city Andalusian is open until April 21, says the ITF. The decision will be known on April 26, the day of the draw for the 2022 final phase, she adds. Trophy holders Russia were excluded from the team competition due to the invasion of Ukraine.
The sixteen teams that will play this final phase are Croatia, finalist last year, Serbia, Great Britain (guest), Canada, and the twelve nations passed through the qualifications (Germany, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Korea South, Spain, United States, France, Italy, Kazakhstan, Netherlands and Sweden). They will be divided into four groups of four. The first two of each group will obtain a place in the final table. Madrid had hosted the first two editions of the new-look Davis Cup, in 2019 and 2021.