ITF

Those special scenes from Malaga will live long in the memory, even if tennis is a sport which moves on quickly, leaving little time for players to savour the moment before they head on to the next event and the next hotel. But after reaching the 2022 final, both Canada and Australia are already secure of their places in the Finals later this season, allowing Canada to revel in their year as world champions, and giving captain Lleyton Hewitt time to plot a path to victory for Australia. Meanwhile, 24 other nations will start their bids to join Canada and Australia when the Davis Cup by Rakuten Qualifiers take place on 3-5 February, with the 12 winning nations from these home-and-away ties going through to September's Group Stage. USA will travel to Uzbekistan, who are spearheaded by playing captain Denis Istomin, and the Americans will be hoping for a fresh start after Mardy Fish's tenure as captain ended in Malaga. His decision to leave Rajeev Ram out of the squad proved costly as USA lost a decisive doubles to Italy in the quarter-finals. A few weeks later, the United States Tennis Association and Fish mutually agreed to move in a new direction and the team has a new look for this tie. Ram is back in the side, Australian Open semi- finalist Tommy Paul receives another call-up, while Jenson Brooksby, Mackenzie McDonald and Austin Krajicek have all been handed their first taste of Davis Cup action. USA are not the only Grand Slam host nation to face an intriguing away tie. Great Britain, who missed out on the Davis Cup Final 8 last year despite being at home in Glasgow for the Group Stage, have a long trip to Cota to face Colombia on indoor clay. Andy Murray had the rest of his team on his back when Great Britain triumphed in the Davis Cup in 2015, but eight years on and Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans and Jack Draper are all established top singles players now, with Britain's strength in depth meaning that Leon Smith can afford to leave Murray out of his side, something that would have been unthinkable in the past. Doubles specialists Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski have also been named and they will know they could face a tough assignment against former world No.1s Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. Ten-time champions France were also absent from Malaga's Final 8 last November and they travel to Hungary who are always a dangerous side at home. The French have named a four- man team of Arthur Rinderknech, Adrian Mannarino, Benjamin Bonzi and Nicolas Mahut, while Marton Fucsovics will be charged with leading the hosts. He has a 22-11 record when playing at home. Clockwise from top le : Marton Fucsovics flies the Hungarian flag; Chile's Cris an Garin; Dominic Thiem is back for Austria; Germany will be led by Alexander Zverev; Borna Coric will be Croa a's lead singles player; Dan Evans celebra ng with the Great Britain team; the Colombians won their World Group I e to reach the Qualifiers; France's Benjamin Bonzi; Rajeev Ram will play doubles for USA DAVIS CUP 8 Winter 2022/23 ITF World

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