Frances Tiafoe, based out of the USTA National Campus in Orlando, was named by U.S. Davis Cup captain Mardy Fish as a team member for the 2019 Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals on Nov. 18-24 in Madrid. He will be joined by Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka, Sam Querrey and Jack Sock.
This year’s finals — the first under the new 18-team format featuring six groups of round-robin play followed by a knockout bracket — will be played on hard courts at La Caja Magica, the home of the ATP Madrid Open.
🇺🇸 TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT 🇺🇸
32 times #DavisCup champion team is ready
See you in Madrid @usta 🇺🇸 @FTiafoe @JackSock @ReillyOpelka @SamQuerrey @Taylor_Fritz97 @MardyFish pic.twitter.com/MrOpu0V5tD
— Davis Cup by Rakuten Madrid Finals (@DavisCupFinals) October 21, 2019
In Fish’s first ties as captain, the U.S. will compete in Group F against Canada on Tuesday, Nov. 19, and Italy on Wednesday, Nov. 20. Each tie features two singles and one doubles match, all best of three sets, played in one day. Captains have until one hour before the scheduled start of the tie to make their singles and doubles selections.
Canada will be represented by Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil. The U.S. is 15-0 all-time vs. Canada, but the two haven’t played since 1965. Italy will be represented by Matteo Berrettini, Fabio Fognini, Andreas Seppi and Simone Bolelli. The U.S. is 7-3 all-time vs. Italy, the last meeting resulting in an Italian victory in the 1998 semifinals.
The winner of each group advances to the knockout quarterfinal stage, as will the two second-best teams with records based on sets and games won.
The event’s four semifinalists earn automatic entry into the 2020 Davis Cup finals, while the 12 teams that finish in 5th-16th positions will compete in the 2020 qualifiers. The two teams with the worst records after the group stage will be relegated to zonal group play in 2020.
The 21-year-old Tiafoe, ranked No. 53, received his second nomination after debuting in last year’s semifinals vs. Croatia for the U.S.
The 32-year-old Querrey has appeared in 14 ties over eight years beginning in 2008, the year following the U.S.’s last Davis Cup title, and was 3-0 in singles last year for the U.S. The 27-year-old Sock made his debut in 2015 and has played in six ties, in which the former world doubles No. 2 has gone 3-0 in doubles matches.
Fritz, 21, and Opelka, 22, each earned their first U.S. Davis Cup nominations.
For more information, including access to player and historical Davis Cup records, go to www.usta.com/daviscup, www.daviscup.com or www.daviscupfinals.com.
