Djokovic and Serbia will replace Medvedev and Russia at Davis

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has confirmed which countries will be the substitutes for Russia and Belarus in the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup after both countries were expelled from the tournament in the 2022 edition after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’s support for the country led by Vladimir Putin.

In the case of the Billie Jean King Cup, where the Russian Tennis Federation defended the title won in 2021 (they cannot compete under the name of Russia because of the state doping scandal), lhe ITF has decided to place in its place the highest ranked country that fell in the semi-finals in 2021, Australia. In addition to the Australian country, the team from Slovakia also made it to the finals of the Billie Jean King Cup, which was due to meet Australia in the play-off tie on April 15-16.

Along with Switzerland, classified as a 2021 finalist, Australia and Slovakia, the Belgian team will also advance to the final phase of the Billie Jean King Cupsince they had to face Belarus in the play-offs on April 15 and 16, but the disqualification of the Belarusians puts them directly in the final.

Djokovic’s Serbia will replace Medvedev’s Russia

The ITF has also made the same criteria to appoint the substitute of the Russian Tennis Federation in the Davis Cupwhere the Russian team also had to defend the title won in Madrid last year.

For this reason, the ITF has decided that Russia will be replaced by the highest-ranked semifinalist in 2021, a milestone that corresponds to Novak Djokovic’s Serbia. Serbia was already guaranteed its place in the finals after receiving an invitation of the organization, so the ITF must now decide which country of the 12 that lost in the access play-off gets Serbia’s invitation. The applicants for this invitation are Ecuador, Romania, Finland, Colombia, Canada, Brazil, Slovakia, Hungary, Norway, Japan, the Czech Republic and Austria.

Waiting to see in which country Serbia’s invitation falls, these are the 15 countries qualified for the Davis Cup finals: Croatia, finalist in 2021; Serbia, as finalist with the highest ranking; Great Britain, by invitation; and Argentina, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United States, who made it to the playoff qualifiers.

For its part, Belarus, which had to face Mexico in the World Group I playoff, did not compete and that gave Mexico direct access to these playoffs. In addition, Uzbekistan will continue to compete in World Group I while China and Thailand will compete in World Group II.