The Austrian Davis Cup team will play their home match against Chile on clay in Salzburg at the beginning of February. This was announced by ÖTV at a press conference at the Erste Bank Open.
For the first time since 1988 in Zell am See a meeting takes place in Salzburg. The venue will be the Salzburgarena. For the meeting on 1 and 2 February, a clay court will be laid in the 4,000-seat hall.
“Many thanks to the city of Salzburg. Ticket sales begin on 5 November”, says ÖTV Managing Director Thomas Schweda. Captain Stefan Koubek is looking forward to the meeting with Chile: “I assume that I can draw on the full potential. Then we’ll go into the game as a favorite.”
Austria had qualified for the world group by beating Australia 3-1 at home. In September French Open finalist Dominic Thiem led his men with two victories to the triumph in Graz. He is also likely to be present in Salzburg. Koubek: “He’s already more or less confirmed.” Only an injury could stop him from running.
In the Head to Head between Austria and Chile it is 3:0 for the South Americans. The Chileans won their last match in Rancagua 2009 3-2. Chile’s Davis Cup captain Nicolas Massu defeated his counterpart Stefan Koubek in four sets in the decisive final singles.
The 39-year-old also believes he has a good chance at the match in February. “Chile is getting stronger every year. Nicolas Jarry also knows how to beat Dominic,” the former ninth in the world rankings alludes in an interview with “El Mercurio” to the victory of the Chilean number one against Thiem in Hamburg.
Besides Jarry (42nd in the ATP ranking), Christian Garin (102nd) will probably serve in the singles. In the doubles, Nicolas Jarry and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (84th in the doubles) played in the last match against Argentina. In addition, Gonzalo Lama, the 554th of the ATP world rankings, was on the line-up against the Gauchos.
Austria will enter the match with world class single player Dominic Thiem and double specialists Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya as clear favourites. According to the ITF statutes, anyone who actually makes it into the five-man squad must be announced ten days before the match.
A victory in Salzburg would qualify Stefan Koubek’s team for the Davis Cup finals of the best 24 teams, which will take place from 18 to 24 November in Madrid. The new format was adopted by the ITF General Assembly in August and continues to be criticised by many top international players and various associations. The ÖTV had abstained from voting.
In February, a total of 22 other teams will fight alongside Austria and Chile to qualify for the one-week final. The games will only be played over two instead of three days, all matches will be played over two winning sets. The twelve winners of the preliminary round, the four semi-finalists 2018 (France, Spain, Croatia, USA) and two wildcard holders (Argentina and Great Britain) will play out the Davis Cup winner in November.