 Welcome back to Tennis Talk, my name's Cam Williams and we have the 2021 edition of the Davis Cup Happening this year, of course last year it didn't happen because of 2021 We know a lot of tournaments got cancelled the Davis Cup being one of them and we're still looking at this new format We're still trying to get used to it from two years ago 2019 was the first time we had this new format of everyone plays at the same time Back in the day it used to be the Davis Cup was played throughout the year And then the final between two teams was played at the end of the year Everyone's playing at the end of the year, so let's go and check out the rules for the Davis Cup just to refresh our memory All right So 18 teams are gonna be a part of this Tournament and the teams are actually chosen by the four semi finalists of the previous edition so 2019 We had Spain, Great Britain, Canada and Russia so they got automatic entry into this year's tournament 12 teams were picked from the qualifying rounds which happened in March of last year and two wildcard teams Which were announced at the end of 2019 were also submitted and those two wildcard teams Are actually France and Serbia's now the way that it works is that we have six groups of three teams And everyone's gonna play each other so every team will play each other in best of three set matches There'll be two singles and a doubles match and very similar to the ATB Cup The winner of each group will go to the quarter final stage and two of the next best teams are two teams That finish second in their group with the best records will also go and make up the other two teams So it gets a little confusing when we're talking about that, but from the quarter finals onwards It's a knockout tournament every single day it goes for about ten days as well. So that's what we're dealing with here All right, let's start with the group stage now and unlike two years ago This tournament has actually played over three different countries for the group stage. We've got group A They'll be playing in Madrid with Spain Russia and Ecuador all playing and you can see some of the big names there You've got guys like Medvedev, Rublev, Carrotsov very very strong players in 2021 also Criño Busta for Spain That could be an interesting matchup Especially if he plays Medvedev the bronze medalist and he also beat Medvedev at the Olympics a little bit earlier this year So that would be very interesting to see and also Alcarez for Spain as well Not so many names for Ecuador to really mention but quite obvious here that team Russia are the best team not only in this group But in the competition so team Russia very very good singles team But don't forget their fourth best singles player is a silver medalist at the Olympics Rublev and Carrotsov have been very good on the double seam this year as well getting some good wins So team Russia they should get through this group The team Spain do have some interesting players So maybe they can make something happen against team Russia group B now We've got Canada Kazakhstan and Sweden and the big names to watch out for probably public is probably the biggest name out of this group Canada don't have their Superstars they don't have FAA they don't have Shapovalov It's gonna be tough for team Canada kind of replicate what they did a couple of years ago But public Kokushkin there's some really good singles players there for Kazakhstan and who knows maybe the EMA brothers for Sweden Can do something as well. So this group for me is actually kind of wide open Who knows who's gonna get out of this group especially with Canada missing their superstars? Let's go to group C now, which is a very tough group We've got France Great Britain and the Czech Republic now There's not too many big names for the Czech Republic Vesely being the biggest name for them But Great Britain and France both have very strong teams Of course the singles players for Great Britain who have had really really good seasons this year Norian Evans very very solid stuff They should win their singles matches hopefully for them, but they've also got a good doubles team Salasbury and Skupsky very good doubles team But they'll be coming up against the French doubles team very very strong her bear and Mahu two of the best doubles players going around so the Doubles for Great Britain versus France might be the difference between who finishes on top of the group and who finishes second Manorino Gascay, they're playing but they're lower ranked players these days But who knows maybe against Nori and Evans they can do something Having a look at group D now and this is another group that's kind of wide open You've got Croatia, Australia and Hungary and Australia does not have Nick Kirios So they're missing the spearhead of the team. You've got Diminor who is the highest ranked player So of course he's playing Poprin who's a very good young player as well And then you've got Piers who's a great doubles player for Australia, but Croatia They have the best doubles team in the entire competition the one and two doubles players in the world Pavic Mektic very strong combination there not to mention Chilic is the number one singles player Of course, Chilic hasn't been the great player He was in the last few years but still Marin Chilic Grand Slam champion got to watch out for him interesting to see how they go against Australia so Croatia Australia very strong team in the doubles for Croatia versus they very young Australian combo in the singles very interesting to see how that goes and then of course Hungary They've got Vucovic at the top who is a very dangerous singles player So maybe there can be some upsets in this one who knows based on teams You'd probably say Australia has the best all-round team but Croatia if Marin Chilic is firing and the doubles combination are Unbeatable maybe they top the group in this one who knows going to group E now And we've got USA Italy and Columbia and the Americans have a pretty solid team a very good doubles combination with Ram and Sock and then they've got Isna Opelka TFO very strong team all round But they've also facing one of the toughest teams in the competition against Italy now Baratini is not playing for Italy of course He got injured at the HB finals, but you've still got Sina, Sonago, Fnini and Moussetti Now we don't really have a doubles combination there I mean Bellelli is a good doubles player But who's gonna team up with to play the doubles with so maybe the doubles I'll struggle a little bit But they've got a good singles combination and maybe they can beat the Americans in the singles And Columbia is also in that group unfortunately for Columbia their singles team is probably not up to scratch But they have a good doubles combination Cabal and Farrar very very strong doubles combination. So they could maybe sneak a couple of doubles I think the Americans versus the Colombians in the doubles that'll be one of the best matches in the doubles for the tournament in the Group stage so definitely watch out for that one and the final group is group F Now this would have been a stacked group had the superstars played now Serbia have their superstar They've got Novak Djokovic. He is playing now Germany do not have a Alexander's Vera because he boycotts the Davis Cup He's not a fan of this new format So he is not playing and of course Austria a missing Dominic team But this group would have been the group of death had the superstars been playing I guess good for Djokovic and Serbia that they're not gonna be playing the best teams that Austria and both Germany could do Still got some strong players Germany still have Coppa Strouff who have been very very good in their singles careers and especially this year with Coppa He's been pretty good and they've got a good doubles combo as well with cravettes and puts teaming up in the doubles Which could pose some problems for Serbia now of course Serbia have Djokovic is the number one He'll probably team up as well. Maybe with Crianovic and play some doubles Kaczyk is a good doubles play up, but I think Djokovic Crianovic with their chemistry They might be better suited either way Djokovic is gonna have to play a lot of matches in the Davis Cup to really drag Serbia through unless Lyovic and Crianovic can do something in the singles Djokovic is going to be doing a lot of the work for Serbia So you have it they are the teams for the Davis Cup and like I said, you know after that We've got the teams that finish on top of each group so six teams the top the group They go to the quarter-final stage and then the teams with the best record that a second in one of the groups Two of those teams will go through the quarter-finals as well And then they'll just play a knockout tournament now These are actually being played over different countries. So we've got one in Austria We've got one in Italy and we've got one in Madrid, but the finals will be played in Madrid So they'll go to Madrid for the Davis Cup finals as they did a couple of years ago where it was all based in Madrid So it's a little different to what it was two years ago. They're still evolving this concept I guess trying to replicate a similar thing to the HB Cup, which is a very good team competition But look they're trying if you don't like the Davis Cup. I understand that I kind of prefer the old version I like the whole having the whole year of like best of five sets. These are only best of three set matches But let me know down in the comments below. Who do you think's gonna win this? I'm going with Russia I think Russia got the best team all round. They've got the best singles combination I don't think anyone's gonna beat them in singles except for maybe Serbia because they've got Djokovic, of course But I reckon they've got the best one-two punch going around and of course, they've got a pretty solid doubles team as well They might not even have to win the doubles the singles might be enough 14 Russia just win both singles events and then just have the doubles for fun But let me know down in the comments below Who do you think's gonna win the Davis Cup this year the Davis Cup 2021? It's on this year and it's got some big names playing