TENNIS TUESDAY: Davis Cup Quarters Set Without Usual Suspects

This weekend the first round of Davis Cup occurred and there was a historic meeting between the United Kingdom and the United States featuring Andy Murray.

The usual suspects of Serbia, Spain and Argentina did not feature their top players (World #1 Rafael Nadal,World #2 Novak Djokovic and World #4 Juan Martin del Potro were no-shows this round.) 2-time defending champion Czech Republic defeated the Netherlands and will face Japan who is into the final 8 on the strength of one player: Kei Nishikori and the fact that Canada did not feature Milos Raonic.

In the Davis Cup quarterfinals the weekend of April 4th, Japan will face the Czechs, Switzerland will face Kazakhstan, France will face Germany and Great Britain will face Italy. Switzerland is the only country featuring two grand slam champions, even though both France and Spain have two top 10 players. Roger Federer has already committed to playing Davis Cup this year and if they win that round they would face the winner of the Great Britain-Italy match-up in the semifinals. Switzerland has never won the Davis Cup, although they made the final round way back in 1992.