The 2023 Davis Cup final begins this Tuesday with eight nations, Canada, Italy, Holland, Finland, Great Britain, Czechia, Australia and Serbia of Novak Djokovic, the main icon of the tournament, who will fight to lift the Salad Bowl on Sunday in the final of the Martín Carpena in Malaga.

The most prestigious team competition in the world of tennis arrives in Malaga for the second year in a row with the significant loss of Spainwhich without Carlos Alcaraz or Rafael Nadal will be the main absence of this edition.

This fact allows the name of the recent ATP Finals champion, Novak Djokovic, to attract all the attention during the tournament which takes place at the Martín Carpena pavilion. The Serbian arrives after winning the crown this Sunday in Turin, beating Jannik sinnerleader of the Italian team, number four in the world.

The undisputed world number one, who with the retirement of Roger Federer and the injuries of Rafa Nadal remained the invincible soldier of the old guardwill lead the Serbian team and try to achieve his second Davisas he achieved in 2010, although he will face other top tennis players like Jannik Sinner himself or the Australian Alex de Minaur.

Other big rackets are those of the British Cameron Norrie (18 years old), who will not have the veteran on his team Andy Murray due to a shoulder injury that ruled him out at the last minute; the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (29), the transalpine Lorenzo Musetti (27) or Dutch Tallon Griekspoor (23).

Crossings and timetables

The nations participating in the 2023 Davis Cup Final 8 have earned their place after overcoming a group stage in September. The qualifiers took place in four cities, Bologna, Manchester, Split and Valencia, from September 12 to 17, with two winners in each group.

Canada defends its title and won Group A in Bologna, and Italy got second place in this group. Hosts Great Britain scored a resounding victory against France in a deciding tie-break in Manchester.

Australia, for its part, clinched the other qualifying spot at stake in this group. The Czech Republic and Serbia qualified from Group C in Valencia, leave Spain behindand in Split, the Netherlands and Finland beat hosts USA and Croatia, exceeding all expectations.

The quarter-final matches are as follows: Canada vs. Finland (Tuesday, 4:00 p.m.); Czechia vs Australia (Wednesday, 4 p.m.); Italy vs Netherlands (Thursday, 10:00 a.m.) and Serbia versus Great Britain (Thursday, not before 4 p.m.).

There first semi-final will take place on Friday 24 at 4:00 p.m. and will pit the winner of Canada-Finland against the winner of Czechia-Australia, while the second It will be Saturday 25 at 12:00 p.m. between Italy or the Netherlands and Serbia or Great Britain.

The eight teams will compete in crosses of direct eliminationin which there will be two singles matches and one doubles match to decide the progression to the next round.

special atmosphere

During the 2022 edition, there were six days of Davis Cup in Malaga which they lived in a very special way, despite the fact that Spain fell at the first opportunity in the quarter-finals. Beyond the colors of each pastime, thousands of people attended a small tennis town built on the outskirts of the pavilion, as happened this year, although with some slight differences.

From the tournament, now organized by the ITF and not by Gerard Piqué’s Kosmos company, they intend to equal or even exceed the 2022 edition, that of the first Salad Bowl in the history of Canada, which was almost full at the Palais des Sports in Malaga reaching 61,916 supporters in totalmore than ten thousand per day on average, almost at full capacity.

The predictions of the tournament organizers are good, the tournament president himself, Feliciano Lopez, said last Thursday that about 90% of tickets had already been sold. Without Spain in the fray, International tourism will be even more important.

We remember the one from the previous year for being the Davis of the Félix Auger-Aliassime estate, that of a Spain which fought without success with Pablo Carreño, Roberto Bautista, Marcel Granollers, Albert Ramos and Pedro Martínez -without Carlos Alcaraz or Rafa Nadal- until falling in the quarter-finals, or that of the curious support of the Australian compatriot Álex De Miñaur, son of a Uruguayan and from a Madrilenian originally from and raised in Alicante.

This year is destined to be the year of the unstoppable Djokovic, but the beauty of this tournament is its surprise factor and the power of the group against the individual. It won’t be easy, in terms of success, for her to also be Djokovic’s Davis when the confetti rains on the court on Sunday the 26th.