We know the Czech team’s nomination for the group stage of the Davis Cup final tournament. Who will play in Valencia?

With less than a month to go until the start of the next phase of this year’s Davis Cup, the national teams are presenting their nominations. The Czechs will play for a place in the play-offs in Valencia against home team Spain, Serbia and South Korea. Who will make up the team of non-playing captain Jaroslav Navrátil?

The Czech tennis players secured their participation in the group part of the 111th edition of the famous competition with their victory over the Portuguese in February. The shape of the line-up for the competition, which is scheduled from 12 to 17 September, is not much different. The only difference is that instead of five players, only four will travel to Spain.

“We have already been with this line-up in Portugal, where Vít Kopřiva was with us. He will be missing this time, because it will be played on a hard indoor surface, so Jakub Menšík, who is a great promise for the future, was preferred,” Navrátil told Tennis World.

Seventeen-year-old Mensik, who is one of the greatest talents of the current domestic tennis, is currently ranked 192nd in the ATP rankings. He did not play in the qualifying match in Maia, Portugal, although he was part of the team.

Jiri Lehecka, the only Czech in the top 100 of the singles rankings, will again be the team’s number one. At 21 years old, he is currently 35. The role of the number two belongs to another youngster, the 102nd tennis player in the world, Tomas Machac.

Navrátil is confidently counting on Adam Pavlásek to play doubles. The twenty-eight-year-old player has recently specialized in this discipline. “He has found a great partner in Uruguayan Behar. They won two Challengers together and were in the final of another one. They played an excellent Wimbledon where they lost only in the quarterfinals to the later champions,” the captain told the said website.

Pavlasek is ranked 60th in the ATP doubles rankings. The individual group matches will be played to two winners, with the third deciding duel being the doubles match. The other Czech nominated for such a match would probably be Lehecka.

The Czech team will not face easy confrontations in Group C. The Spaniards have the world number one Carlos Alcaraz in their nomination so far. The national team from the Iberian Peninsula also includes Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Roberto Bautista Agut and Marcel Granollers.

Novak Djokovic is expected to play for the Serbs according to the current roster. Laslo Djere, Miomir Kecmanovic, Dusan Lajovic and Hamad Međedovic are selected as his teammates.

The South Korean selection can be described as an inscrutable rival. The Asian team is led by the 107th best singles player in the world, Soonwoo Kwon, who is joined by Seongchan Hong, Yun Seong Chung, Jisung Nam and Minkyu Song.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage, hosted by Málaga in November. In Bologna, the Italians, defending champions Canada, the Swedes and the Chileans will compete for the qualification positions. In Manchester, the British, Australians, French and Swiss will play, while in Split, the Croatians, Finns, Dutch and the USA will play.

Source: Davis Cup, Tennis World, ATP