Davis Cup Finals 2021: Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev

Davis Cup Finals 2021: World No.1 Novak Djokovic and US Open champion Daniil Medvedev are the two top-ranked players in the world. They are also the main attractions of the Davis Cup which attempts to re-establish itself this week after a year-long gap due to COVID-19. This year’s event will be played by 18 teams, initially in six groups, over 11 days across three cities. Follow Davis Cup live updates on InsideSport

Davis Cup Finals 2021: Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev in focus- check all details

The group stages, which start on Thursday, will be played in Madrid, Turin and Innsbruck where the surge in coronavirus cases and the subsequent lockdown in Austria means that matches will be played once again in an empty arena.

Also read: ATP Rankings: Novak Djokovic retains No 1 spot, Jannik Sinner makes huge gain, enters top 10

The semi-finals and December 5 final will all be played in the Spanish capital, reward for the team that won the title two years ago.

World number two Medvedev, whose season peaked with a three-set annihilation of Djokovic in the US Open final in September, is backed up by two others in the top 20 — Andrey Rublev (5) and Aslan Karatsev (18) — as well as Olympic silver medallist Karen Khachanov (29).

Serbia’s hopes of replicating their 2010 success will rest largely on the shoulders of Djokovic. However, Djokovic looked weary at the ATP Finals in Milan last week when he lost to Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals.

He said Serbia will use the bitter memory of their Davis Cup Finals defeat in 2019 as motivation to lift the trophy for a second time this year. At the inaugural Davis Cup Finals in Madrid two years ago Serbia were knocked out in the quarter-finals after Viktor Troicki and Djokovic lost a deciding doubles rubber to Russia.

Zverev has chosen not to play in the Davis Cup and he is joined on the sidelines by a host of other big names as 10 of the world’s top 15 are absent.

Berrettini (7) is still suffering from the abdominal injury that ruled him out of the ATP Finals.

Dominic Thiem (15) is missing for Austria as he continues to recuperate from an injury that wiped the latter part of his season while 2019 finalists Canada will be without the injured Felix Auger-Aliassime (11) as well as Denis Shapovalov (14) who is resting.

And then there are those whose teams did not qualify — Stefanos Tsitsipas (4, Greece), Casper Ruud (8, Norway), Hubert Hurkacz (9, Poland) and Diego Schwartzman (13, Argentina).

The 2021 Davis Cup begins on Thursday with Canada taking on Sweden in Group B in Madrid, France up against the Czech Republic in Group C in Innsbruck and Croatia battling it out with 28-time winners Australia in Group D in Turin.

Davis Cup Finals 2021: Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev in focus- check all details

Davis Cup Finals 2021 Groups

Group A: Spain, Russia Tennis Federation, Ecuador
Group B: Canada, Kazakstan, Sweden
Group C: France, Great Britain, Czech Republic
Group F: Serbia, Germany, Austria
Group D: Croatia, Australia, Hungary
Group E: USA, Italy, Columbia

18 teams reached 2021 Finals

Four teams qualified automatically

Spain won Davis Cup 2019 while Canada were runners up

Russian Tennis Federation and Great Britain were semifinalists.

The group stages will be played from November 25 to 28. The tournament finals will be played on December 5.

Davis Cup Finals 2021: Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev in focus- check all details

Davis Cup Finals 2021: Finalist nation Broadcaster

Australia Nine
Austria Servus TV
Canada Rogers
Colombia Win Sports, TyC and Direct TV
Croatia HRT and SportKlub
Czech Republic Voyo and Czech TV
Ecuador TyC and Direct TV
France beIN
Germany Servus TV
Hungary MTVA and M4 Sport
Italy Super Tennis
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan TV
Russian Tennis Federation Okko
Serbia SportKlub
Spain Movistar
Sweden Eurosport
Great Britain Eurosport
USA CBS