Davis Cup Preview: Fritz, Tiafoe lead USA against Czechia in Delray Beach

Some traditions are immune to the modern-day drive for disruption. The home-and-away tie in Davis Cup, with all of its intensity and pageantry and ear-splitting noise, seems to be one of them.

In 2018, the century-old team competition tried to disrupt itself by hiring Gerard Piqué and his Kosmos group as managers. They took the famously scattered event and centralized it. Out with ties played on home courts all over the world, all year long; in with a week-long turbo-final in Spain.

Five years later, after the pandemic led to cancellations and empty stadiums, the deal collapsed, Kosmos was jettisoned, and a round of home-and-away ties was added back. The patriotic passion that makes Davis Cup worth playing and worth watching couldn’t be replicated any other way.

Read More: Carlos Alcaraz pulls out of Spain's Davis Cup 2R qualifier following hard-court title sweep

This Friday and Saturday, we’ll see that passion in action, from Florida to Japan to the Netherlands and a few points in between. Seven ties will be staged, with the winners joining Italy, the two-time defending champions, in the Finals in Bologna in November. The ties will be best-of-five rubbers (four singles and one doubles), held over two days. Each match is best of three sets.

Here’s a look ahead at all seven.

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Czechia vs. USA

📍 Delray Beach, FL

As an American, I may be biased, but I’d say this is the best of the weekend’s matchups. There are five Top 30 singles players involved—Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe for the U.S., Jiri Lehecka, Jakub Mensik, and Tomas Machac for the Czechs. The doubles also features two Grand Slam winners from the States, Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek, and a Top 30 Czech player in Adam Pavlasek.

Even the clash of the captains, Bob Bryan vs. Tomas Berdych, should have entertainment value.

It should also be a tight contest. Fritz, No. 5 in the world, will be a slight favorite if he faces Lehecka, Mensik, or Machac. But how about Tiafoe? He’s down to No. 29 in the rankings, below all of the Czechs, and Lehecka is coming off a quarterfinal finish at the US Open.

Let’s hope for a proper Davis Cup atmosphere on outdoor hard courts in Delray. If it comes down to the dubs, I’ll take the U.S.

Winner: USA

France vs. Croatia

📍 Osijek, Croatia

This a duel between two teams with enthusiastic fan bases, as well as well a rematch of the 2018 final, the last before the format change. That year, Croatia defeated defending champion France in Lille. Which means this year the French team will travel to Osijek, where they’ll be greeted by a sea of checkered Croatian shirts.

Croatia will be led by the man who led them in 2018, Marin Cilic, and will be anchored by a Grand Slam-winning doubles team in Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic.

France, by contrast, will be led by a newcomer in Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, a towering serve-bomber who hasn’t progressed the way fans from his country had hoped in 2025. After that, France brings three solid second-tier names—Corentin Moutet, Benjamin Bonzi, and Arthur Rinderknech—and 34-year-old doubles specialist Pierre Hugues-Herbert.

Croatia may need two wins from Cilic to make it through.

Winner: France

Germany vs. Japan

📍 Tokyo, Japan

It’s been a while. Ninety-three years, to be exact. The last time Germany and Japan faced off was in 1933, before they allied themselves in World War II.

This long-delayed rematch will be the rare tie where the go-to weapon will be a doubles team. That’s Germany’s Kevin Kraweitz and Tim Puetz, longtime fixtures in the ATP’s Top 20, who are 17-1 and 19-1 in Davis Cup, respectively. Penciling them in as winners means that Japan will need to be sharper in its singles matches.

Even there, though, Germany should have the edge. It will send out Jan-Lennard Struff and Yannick Hanfmann against lower-ranked Shintaro Mochizuki, Yosuke Watanuki, and Yoshihito Nishioka.

Home-court advantage will help Japan. They’ll need it.

Winner: Germany

Argentina vs. Netherlands

📍 Groningen, Netherlands

North vs. South, hard-courters vs. dirt-ballers, a traditional Davis Cup powerhouse in Argentina vs. last year’s surprise finalist in the Netherlands. This is a clash of continents and opposites.

Each country has its advantages.

The Netherlands will be happy to be at home, on presumably fast hard courts rather than Argentine red clay. Argentina will have the best overall player in Francisco Cerundolo. Both teams have interesting, fairly young up-and-comers in Jesper de Jong (Netherlands) and Fransisco Comesana (Argentina). Argentina will have the best doubles player in Andres Molteni, but will also have the oldest participant in 40-year-old Horacio Zeballos.

Winner: Argentina

Austria vs. Hungary

📍 Debrecen, Hungary

Next-door neighbors and former members of the same empire, these two Central European nations haven’t faced off since 1983.

Hungary will fields the tie’s two best-known and highest-ranked players in Marton Fuscovics and Fabian Marozsan. The 33-year-old Fucsovics, a Cup veteran with a 35-20 record in the competition, clinched his country’s opening-round tie over Canada, and recently turned back the clock and won a title in Winston-Salem.

What does Austria have to combat that? Filip Milosic isn’t a household name, but he has climbed more than 200 ranking spots, to No. 94, in 2025 alone.

Winner: Hungary

Denmark vs. Spain

📍 Marbella, Spain

The first fact to know here is that Spanish No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz is not playing. He pulled out after his US Open win. The second fact to know is that Spanish No. 2 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina is also not playing.

Even a tennis powerhouse like Spain will struggle with their top two players out, and this tie now looks like it could be a toss-up. Spain’s No. 1 and 2 are 37th-ranked Jaume Munar and 67th-ranked Pedro Martinez. Denmark will boast the weekend’s highest-ranked player in Holger Rune, as well as up-and-coming, 22-year-old Elmer Moeller, he of the lethal two-handed backhand. Rune and Munar, who may meet in a key match on Saturday, have never played.

The clay courts in Marbella will help the Spaniards, but they may need contributions from the other two on their roster, Pablo Carreño Busta and Roberto Carballés Baena. I’m going to say it will be enough.

Winner: Spain

Belgium vs. Australia

📍 Sydney, Australia

The newsiest item of this tie so far concerns Australia’s captain, Lleyton Hewitt. The ITF’s integrity unit just suspended him for shoving a 60-year-old anti-doping volunteer in Spain last year. Oddly, though, his ban doesn’t begin until after this round of ties is over. So Rusty will be in his traditional position on the sideline.

Read More: Lleyton Hewitt suspended two weeks for pushing anti-doping official

Judging by the rosters, Australia may not need a ton of help. It will field a team led by Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin, and will face a Belgian team led by 46th-ranked Zizou Bergs and 91st-ranked Raphael Collignon. That, and the rare chance to play at home at this time of year, will make the Aussies solid favorites.

Winner: Australia

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