- Aryna Sabalenka Edges Elena Rybakina in Dramatic Australian Open Final
- Ricky’s preview and pick for the Australian Open final: Djokovic vs. Tsitsipas
- Djokovic, Tsitsipas set up showdown for No. 1 in Australian Open final
- David Nainkin to Serve as Interim Captain for U.S. Davis Cup Team’s Qualifying tie vs. Uzbekistan
- Stefanos Tsitsipas Tops Karen Khachanov For First Australian Open Final
- Australian Open Draws and Schedule for January 28, 2023
- Ricky’s preview and pick for the Australian Open semifinals: Djokovic vs. Paul
- Aryna Sabalenka Sets up Australian Open Final vs. Elena Rybakina
- Australian Open Draws and Schedule for January 27, 2023
- Aryna Sabalenka Stops Donna Vekic to Reach First Australian Open Semifinal
- Australian Open Draws and Schedule for January 26, 2023
- Djokovic takes swipe at De Minaur and other injury doubters
- Roger Federer is a Striking Force at Paris Fashion Week
- Ricky’s picks for Day 10 of the Australian Open: Djokovic vs. Rublev
- Rybakina Overwhelms Ostapenko for first Australian Open Semifinal
Ricky’s Tennis Preview and Picks for the Davis Cup Finals: Russia to Battle Past Spain
- Updated: November 23, 2021

By Ricky Dimon
The 2021 Davis Cup Finals will get underway on Thursday with round-robin competition. A total of 18 countries are divided into six groups of three, with each of the six winners advancing to the quarterfinals along with two second-place teams that have the best remaining records based on number of matches and sets won.
Each tie is best-of-three, with two singles rubbers followed by a doubles match.
Spain is bidding for its second title–and second in a row–since the Davis Cup format was changed in 2019 (last year’s event was cancelled because of Covid-19). Led by Rafael Nadal, the host nation took care of business in Madrid by beating Great Britain in the semis and Canada in the final. The Spaniards will have home-court advantage once again, as Madrid is one of three sites for the round-robin and quarterfinals and is the lone site for the semis and final. However, this time around there is no Nadal.
Team Spain is still loaded, but it finds itself in the same group as Russia. The Russians started the 2021 season by triumphing at the ATP Cup and they have to be considered the favorites in the Davis Cup thanks to Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, and Karen Khachanov.

Serbia obviously cannot be discounted with Novak Djokovic at the helm. Italy should be a contender even without Matteo Berrettini, as both Jannik Sinner and Fabio Fognini are on board. The United States is formidable in both singles and doubles, but being in the same group as Italy is tough. France is led by Nitto ATP Finals doubles champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, but can the singles players pick up enough wins for the country’s second title in the last five years?
Picks:
Group A
1) Russia
2) Spain
3) Ecuador
Group B
1) Kazakhstan
2) Sweden
3) Canada
Group C
1) France
2) Great Britain
3) Czech Republic
Group D
1) Australia
2) Croatia
3) Hungary
Group E
1) Italy
2) United States
3) Colombia
Group F
1) Serbia
2) Germany
3) Austria
Quarterfinals
Russia over United States
France over Serbia
Italy over Australia
Spain over Kazakhstan
Semifinals
Russia over France
Spain over Italy
Final
Russia over Spain
Ricky contributes to10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.