The Sport That Never Sleeps: Davis Cup Quarterfinal Previews

These are the dog days of Davis Cup. With two Grand Slam tournaments just completed, and a trip to Rio for the Olympics just ahead, it was always going to be tough to get the top players to come out for their countries again this weekend.

But the quarterfinals, and the drama that every Cup tie provides no matter who’s involved, will go on. Now that the teams and the match-ups are set, here’s a look ahead. With so many familiar names on the sidelines, the results look more unpredictable than ever.

When the 2016 Davis Cup draw was made, many of of us put a circle around this quarterfinal in Belgrade. It promised to pit the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the world, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, against each other. But it turns out that the No. 1 and 2 players in the world, both apparently fried from their recent Grand Slam victories at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, won’t be there. Neither will the No. 32-ranked player in the world, Serbia’s Viktor Troicki.

Who is going to be there? The Brits will rely on Kyle Edmund and James Ward, the Serbs on Janko Tipsarevic and Dusan Lajovic. Edmund and Ward are ranked 87th and 240th, respectively; Lajovic and Tipsarevic are 67th and 405th. Each has some Cup experience, and the first three have been part of a title-winning team. Most intriguing could be the doubles rubber between—if no substitutions are made—Tipsarevic and partner Nenad Zimonjic, and Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot. The Belgrade crowd should help the Serbs, and perhaps the red clay there will as well. But Jamie Murray helped the U.K. go all the way last year.

Winner: Great Britain

France-Czech Republic, nominally a fight between a recent two-time Cup champion and the world’s deepest team, is the weekend’s second blockbuster that wasn’t. The Czech’s top gun, Tomas Berdych, is skipping the tie, while France’s No. 2 and 3 men, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon, are unavailable. That leaves Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to lead the French onto the Czechs’ always-speedy indoor hard courts. Fortunately for Les Bleus, this is where their depth might save them. At No. 2 singles they have 22-year-old Lucas Pouille, who is fresh off a quarterfinal run at Wimbledon. Even better, they have the world’s best doubles team in Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who are fresh off a Wimbledon title. But don’t count the Czechs out: Jiri Vesely, who will play Pouille on Friday, has had some big victories this season; and Lukas Rosol does have a win over his Friday opponent, Tsonga. This was supposed to be the year when the current generation of French Musketeers finally put their names on the Cup. This could be the trickiest test they face.

Winner: France

Another tie, another team that won’t have its star player in the singles lineup. In this case, the team is Argentina, and the star is Juan Martin del Potro. Unlike Murray, Djokovic and Berdych, though, del Potro is part of the squad this weekend; right now he’s scheduled to play doubles with Guido Pella. Delpo could also, if needed, be called on for singles duty on Sunday. Barring substitutions, this tie will pit Italy’s longtime stalwarts, Andreas Seppi and Fabio Fognini, against Argentina’s Federico Delbonis and Juan Monaco. Each of these teams has been to the semis in 2014 and 2015, and each is desperate to go farther this time. Argentina is the best team never to have won the Cup, while the Italians have lost in the final six times since last winning it in 1976. Italy beat Argentina ins Argentina two years ago. Can Argentina return the favor? Much will depend on Delbonis. He’s played just four ties, and last year he lost two key matches to Belgium in the semifinals. The Italians will lean heavily on Fognini. That might sound like a shaky proposition, but he does tend to keep it together in Davis Cup, where he’s 16-6 in singles/

Winner: Italy

The U.S. has home-court advantage, but history says it's going to need all the help it can get against these opponents. The Croats are 3-0 in the head to head between the two teams, and their two best players, Marin Cilic and Borna Cilic, have made the long trip out west to Portland. But the U.S. is also fielding its strongest possible team, with John Isner, Jack Sock, and Bob and Mike Bryan. Both countries are coming off impressive first-round wins—the U.S. beat Australia in Melbourne, while the Croats upset last year’s finalists, Belgium—and both must feel as if they have a chance to win the whole thing.

Sock and Cilic, who have never faced each other, will open the proceedings; Isner and Coric will follow. Much, we can guess, will ride on the play of Isner, who came up big against the Aussies. But the key, as it has been so many times for the U.S. in the past, may be the doubles. The Bryans aren’t quite what they once were, but they’ll be favored against any duo that Croatia throws out against them.

Winner: USA