Davis Cup: Balanced duel with advantage Dominic Thiem

The US Open showed that the fans can expect a balanced duel in the Davis Cup delegation match between Austria and Australia in Graz.

At this moment, the question of who will be dealing with something at all in Graz from Friday on should be put aside for the time being. Australia is in a solid eighth place in the current Davis Cup rankings. The arithmetic of the ITF cannot be so crude that the Aussies will not be part of the 2019 World Group. The first round will be played with 24 teams, the semi-finalists from the current campaign are already set for the final tournament in autumn.

France (currently the leader), Croatia (fourth), the USA (seventh) and the eight-placed Spaniards can therefore look forward to the last traditional final phase of the Davis Cup.

Austria? Number 22 is in the charts after his successes against Belarus and in Russia, a victory against Millman and Co. would further improve this position.

So, of course, the safest tip from an Austrian point of view is Dominic Thiem. Darren Cahill, Simona Halep’s Australian coach and part-time expert for the US channel ESPN, has already written off the two singles against Austria’s number one.

So John Millman and Alex de Minaur have to score points in the absence of Nick Kyrgios against the man behind Thiem, in all probability this will be Dennis Novak.

Millman’s current condition is surprisingly good, as was underlined by his smooth defeat to Novak Djokovic. How the very eloquent 29-year-old will manage the change from the admittedly slow court at Arthur Ashe Stadium to the certainly even slower sand in Graz is one of the exciting questions of the weekend.

Thiem knows Millman well from the recent past; on his first match after Wimbledon and Urlaub, the man from Lichtenwörth just beat the Australian in the German Bundesliga. A few days later in Hamburg very clearly.

Millman could have made history for the Australians this year had it not been for Alexander Zverev’s victory over Nick Kyrgios in Brisbane. For singles number four, captains Lleyton Hewitt and Michael Kohlmann had just scheduled Millman and Peter Gojowczyk.

Alex de Minaur started in Brisbane, could not play a lead against Zverev home. Like at the US Open against Marin Cilic. Nevertheless, the fighting performance of the 19-year-old was impressive in both cases.

The double could eventually mutate into a veteran, yes, legend comparison: On the Austrian side, the couple Oliver Marach and Jürgen Melzer are to be expected; with the renunciation of Matthew Ebden, Lleyton Hewitt has practically laid himself a slide in the direction of John Peers’ side.

The form check for peers does not look quite as positive as for the individual colleagues: With partner Henri Kontinen, Fabrice Martin and Jeremy Chardy came to an end in round two of the US Open. On the other hand: Oliver Marach also had to say goodbye from New York after only one double match with Mate Pavic.