Daily Times

PARIS: Spain will host Great Britain in the first round of the 2018 Davis Cup, while this year’s finalists France and Belgium were drawn against the Netherlands and Hungary respectively on Thursday. Australia, beaten 3-2 by Belgium in last weekend’s semi-final, will start next year’s campaign at home to Germany with the United States, the record 32-time champions, travelling to Serbia. The opening round will be held February 2-4, just a week after the conclusion of the 2018 Australian Open in Melbourne. World number one Rafael Nadal, a four-time Davis Cup champion with Spain in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011, could line up against Andy Murray, the man he replaced at the top of the rankings last month. Murray, who is likely to miss the rest of the season due to a nagging hip injury, helped Britain end a 79-year title drought when they beat Belgium to lift the trophy in 2015. The participation of Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland remains to be seen after the pair were also forced to cut short their campaigns due to injury. Roger Federer, who teamed up with Wawrinka to win the 2014 Davis Cup, last played in the event in a World Group play-off tie in September 2015. France host Belgium in this year’s final in Lille from November 24-26.

2018 first round draw:

France v Netherlands

Japan v Italy

Spain v Great Britain

Australia v Germany

Kazakhstan v Switzerland

Croatia v Canada

Serbia v USA

Hungary v Belgium.

Published in Daily Times, September 22^nd 2017.