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After dominating and belting Slovakia 3-0 in the world group playoffs, Australia has drawn 2013 champions and third-ranked nation, the Czech Republic, for their first round match next year.
The Australians have met Czech Republic eight times in Davis Cup, losing just one.
Their most recent encounter being in the first round last year when, in a tense encounter Australia prevailed 3-2 in a major upset.
The tie will be played from February 3-5th with the venue still undecided.
Czech Republic bowed out this year in the quarter-finals losing to France. Current World Number 9 Tomas Berdych is the Czech Republic’s captain while Lukas Rosol and Jiri Vesely are other top 100 players in the line-up.
Should Australia beat Czech-Republic, they would host either U.S.A, who knocked them out earlier this year or Switzerland. Switzerland boasts maestro Roger Federer as well as newly awarded U.S open champion, Stan Wawrinka.
Full world group draw
Argentina v Italy
Belgium v Germany
Czech Republic v Australia
Switzerland v U.S.A
Japan v France
Canada v Great Britain
Russia v Serbia
Spain v Croatia
Over 130 nations are competing this year, as always broken up into groups, vying for a spot to play in the prestigious world group in the upcoming years.
The final next year is from 24-26 November.
On the topic of finals, the Davis Cup final this year is between Argentina and Croatia.
Argentina have won all four contests. Argentina’s side is spearheaded by Juan martin Del Potro with Juan Monaco, Leonardo Mayer and Guido Pella to round out the team.
They will be up against an unseeded Croatia led by world number 11, Marin Cilic. Next generation gem Borna Coric along with World Number 8 doubles player, Ivan Dodig. The final will be played in Croatia between the 25th and 27th November.
Davis Cup will have to weigh up its options on some format changes. It seems increasingly likely that future Davis Cup ties will be played as a best of three set match, instead of the current best of five sets.
This would likely shorten Davis Cup weekends to two days, eliminating the Friday. There is also the possibility that the Davis Cup reigning champion will be given a bye in the first round of the following season.
Another proposed change is to stage finals at neutral venues, decided by the ITF. None of those changes will affect the 2017 Davis cup, with a meeting to be held in August 2017 to make a decision.
My prediction for the 2016 Davis Cup is to see Croatia upset Argentina 4-1 with Borna Coric a standout performer.
As for 2017, I’d love to see the Aussies win it but I think we will scrape past the Czechs in the first round to lose, for the second straight year, to U.S.A.
My prediction for the 2016 crown is France. With five singles players inside the top 30, and a top-ranked doubles pair, it is France’s to lose.
How about you? What are your predictions Roarers? How far can the Aussies make it and who will emerge victorious?
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