Dutch Davis Cup team draw again with USA in group stage: ‘It will be a lot of work’ | Tennis

During the previous edition, the Dutch had also met the Americans. Then Orange, led by captain Paul Haarhuis, surprisingly won 2-1. The United States will therefore have a second chance this year. The Davis Cup record holder (32 final wins) and group favorite includes Taylor Fritz (ATP-10). In Croatia, Borna Coric (ATP-20) and Marin Cilic (ATP-22) have two best players in the team. Finland has the weakest team in the group with Emil Ruusuvuori (ATP-54), who beat Botic van de Zandschulp in Miami.

“It’s a very tough draw. America is the strongest in pot 3, and we’ll meet them. It’s going to be a lot of work to finish in the top two and we’ll have to put in an absolute team performance,” said captain Haarhuis: “We showed last year in Glasgow that anything is possible with this team, so we’re going there. We play in Croatia and it would be great if many Dutch fans came to support us. In Glasgow and Malaga we saw again how great this support is.

In February, the Netherlands qualified for this phase of the national tournament by beating Slovakia 4-0 in Groningen. Then the Haarhuis team played without the non-match made Van de Zandschulp. The Dutch team usually consists of Van de Zandschulp, TallonGreekspoor, Tim van Rijthoven and doubles specialists Wesley Koolhof and Matwé Middelkoop. Canada is the defending champion.

This is the last time the Davis Cup will be played in this format. Earlier this year, it was announced that the ITF and investor Kosmos would end their cooperation after this edition.