The junior Davis Cup and Fed Cup competitions get underway this week in Budapest Hungary. The under-16 event sees some of the best juniors in the world take to the court representing their countries. The Czech Republic (Fed Cup) and Canada (Davis Cup) will be looking to defend their respective titles. The draw was announced today with play getting underway in Budapest this week.
Draw Preview
The junior Davis and Fed Cups do not follow the same format as the senior level events. The 16 teams are drawn into four groups of four teams. The tournament starts with a round robin at the end of which, the top team in each group advances to the semifinals, at which point it becomes a knockout event.
Here are the draws:
Davis Cup:
Group A:
Canada: Felix Auger-Aliassime, Nicaise Muamba, Chih Chi Huang
India: Adil Kalyanpur, Siddhant Banthia, Megh Patel
Hungary: Daniel Khin, PeterMakk, Mate Voros
Chile: Ignacio Becerra, Garizon Abarzua, Alan Sanson
Group B:
USA: Sebastian Korda, Keenan Mayo, Sangeet Sridhar
Czech Republic: Ondrej Styler, Tomas Machas, Evzen Holis
Switzerland: Damien Wenger, Henry von der Schulenburg, Yannik Steinegger
Brazil: Thiago Seyboth, Mateus Alves, Gilbert Soares Klier Junior
Group C:
China: Lingxi Zhao, Tao Mu, Yecong Mo
Argentina: Sebastian Baez, Thiago Tirante, TomasDiescarrega
Bulgaria: Adrian Andreev, Leonid Sheyngezikht, Yoan Georgiev
Morocco: Soufiane El Mesbahi, Ismail Saadi, Achraf Nafaa
Group D:
Russia: Alen Avidzba, Timofey Skatov, Alexey Zakharov
Japan: Naoki Tajima, Rimpei Kawakami, Takeaki Ito
Germany: Henri Squire, Leopold Zima, Constantin Zoske
Egypt: Yusuf Khamis, Adham Gaber, Faris Zakariya
Canada are the defending champions, but are fielding a very different team from last year, with only one member of their three-man championship team returning. That being said, their one returning player, Félix Auger-Aliassime, is the only junior major champion competing in this year’s competition. France and Australia, the other two countries to boast junior titlists this year, are not competing, while Wimbledon champion Denis Shapovalov of Canada, a member of Canada’s 2016 championship team, is too old.
Canada are the favourites heading into the event, primarily due to Auger-Aliassime’s presence. He is the only member of the junior top-10 at the event. The United States, who headline group B, are without their top junior, Ulises Blanch, who is 18 and too old to compete. All the other countries featuring top ten players are not competing.
Fed Cup :
Group A:
Russia: Olesya Pervushina, Anastasia Potapova, Varvara Gracheva
Argentina: Lourdes Carle, Azul Pedemonti, Andrea Farulla
Thailand: Watsachol Sawasdee, Thasaporn Naklo, Natthapat Piwbangruk
Belarus: Yulia Hatouka, Anna Kubareva, Katyarina Paulenka
Groub B:
Poland: Iga Swiatek, Maja Chwalinska, Stefania Rogozinska-Dzik
Canada: Bianca Vanessa Andreescu, Isabelle Boulais, Layne Sleeth
India: Mahak Jain, Sathwika Sama, Shivani Amineni
Hungary: Fanni Gecsek, Reka Zadori, Adrienn Horvath
Group C:
Japan: Ayumi Miyamoto, Yuki Naito, Naho Sato
Great Britain: Francesca Jones, Nell Miller, Eliz Maloney
Uruguay: Fernanda Secinario, Lucia De Santa Anna, Agustina Cuestas
Morocco: Diae El Jardi, Rim Benhadi, Hiba Al Khalifi
Group D:
USA: Amanda Anisimova, Claire Liu, Caty McNally
Czech Republic: Denisa Hindova, Karolina Berankova, Radka Buzkova
New Zealand: Nina Paripovich, Tamara Anderson, Emilia Price
Peru: Anastasia Iamachkine, Almudena Boza, Dana Guzman
The two favourites in Fed Cup draw are the Americans, led by junior number four Amanda Anisimova, and the Russians, who feature two of the world’s top three, Olesya Pervushina and Anastasia Potapova. The only other team to feature a top-ten player is Canada, who is led by Bianca Andreescu. The Americans and the Russians are the heavy favourites in this event. Potapova is the lone major champion in the draw. Anything but a Russia-USA final would be very surprising and would be the result of a major upset.