(Reuters) – Malaga in Spain will host the knockout stage of this yr’s Davis Cup Finals in November on an indoor onerous court docket, the International Tennis Federation stated on Wednesday.
Malaga, within the southern Spanish area of Andalusia, was earlier chosen as one of the 4 cities to host the group stage of the lads’s staff competitors from Sept. 14-18 however will now host the knockouts for the 2022 and 2023 Finals.
The Finals can have 16 nations competing in 4 teams throughout Bologna, Glasgow, Hamburg and a fourth metropolis — changing Malaga — with every staging one group of 4 groups.
The prime eight groups will then advance to the knockout stage, which is able to function the season-ending occasion on the lads’s tennis calendar and might be held from Nov. 21-27 in Malaga.
Bids to change Malaga because the host metropolis for the group stage have to be submitted by April 21, the ITF and occasion homeowners Kosmos Tennis stated.
The Russian staff won’t be able to defend their title after world governing physique ITF suspended the memberships of Russia and Belarus and withdrew their entries from staff competitions following the invasion of Ukraine.
The competitors, which started in 1900, has undergone numerous modifications in format, most not too long ago in 2019 when dwelling and away ties have been changed by a World Cup-style Finals held in Madrid.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; enhancing by Christian Radnedge)
