Novak Djokovic and co to play Davis Cup group stage without crowds

Led by Novak Djokovic, Serbia and the five other nations in Groups C and F will play their round robin ties behind closed doors.

This year’s Davis Cup is being spread across three European cities for the group stage. It begins on 25th November, with the final taking place on 5th December.

Each of Madrid, Spain, Turin, Italy and Innsbruck, Austria will host two of the six groups in the first round.

Madrid will then host the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final to finish the event.

However, Austria recently announced a national lockdown in response to surging Covid-19 cases there.

The lockdown will last at least 20 days, encompassing the entirety of the Davis Cup group stage.

As a result, Groups C and F will play their round robins without fans.

The teams in those groups are France, Great Britain and Czechia in Group C and Serbia, Germany and hosts Austria in Group F.

World number one Djokovic and British world number 12 Cameron Norrie are the biggest names in singles within those groups.

The Davis Cup is taking place for the first time since 2019, skipping 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Spain are the defending champions, with Rafael Nadal spearheading their triumph that year.

The 20-time Slam champion will not feature at this year’s event due to injury.

Instead, world number 19 and 20 Roberto Bautista Agut and Pablo Carreno Busta lead the way for the nation.

Newly crowned Next Gen ATP Finals champion and world number 32 Carlos Alcaraz rounds out the singles, with Feliciano Lopez and Marcel Granollers specialising in the doubles.

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