Malaga hosts the final fight for the 'Salad Bowl' without the best stars News

MADRID, 21 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The José María Martín Carpena Sports Palace in Malaga is already prepared to crown the new country world champion with the dispute from this Tuesday to next Sunday of the decisive phase of the 2022 Davis Cup Finals to which Spain does not reach first line, although everything is open in the absence of the main 'heavyweights'.

The venue in Malaga, Unicaja's usual home, will take over from the Madrid Arena and the Caja Mágica, venues in 2021 and 2019 respectively for the Finals, to see which of the eight teams still in contention raises the prestigious 'Salad Bowl' and replaces in the list of winners to the suspended Russia.

Along with the Spaniard, who will try to take advantage of his status as host in the face of significant casualties and a surface that does not benefit him, there will be Croatia and Canada, runners-up in this new format created by Gerard Piqué and Kosmos, the United States and Australia, the two most successful countries. and who aspire to end a wait of many years, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands.

The team led by Sergi Bruguera will have to recover from the absences of Carlos Alcaraz, number one in the world and injured a few weeks ago, and Rafa Nadal, who gave up playing in the competition this year, to try to fight for the seventh title, although in In the quarterfinals, this Wednesday, they will have a tough opponent in the Croats, who come with the veteran Marin Cilic, the dangerous Borna Coric and a powerful double.

Without its first two 'swords', Spain will seek to be competitive with two proven tennis players and already experts in this Davis Cup such as Pablo Carreño, absent in the round robin in September due to injury, and Roberto Bautista, who will be accompanied by Marcel Granollers, Pedro Martinez and Albert Ramos.

The hosts will be looking to get rid of one of the most balanced and favored teams, a condition that may also fall to Canada and the United States. The Canadian team arrives with a toned Felix Auger-Aliassime and a good complement in Denis Shapovalov, although he is not at his best, while the American, who has not played in the final since 2007, comes with Taylor Fritz and Francis Tiafoe.

Precisely, Auger-Aliassime, number six, and Fritz, nine, will be the only 'Top 10' in the world ranking that will be in Malaga where, due to different circumstances, they will not be, in addition to Alcaraz and Nadal, the Serbian Novak Djokovic, the Russian Daniil Medvedev, the Norwegian Casper Ruud, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas or the German Alexander Zverev, an absence of big names that the organization hopes will not affect the spectacle of a tennis World Cup that will open on Tuesday Australia, whose last Davis Cup final was in 2003 , and the Netherlands.

-Mars 22.

1. Australia - Netherlands 16.00.

-Wednesday 23.

2. SPAIN - Croatia 16.00.

-Thursday 24.

3. Italy - United States 10.00.

4. Canada - Germany 16.00.

-Friday 25.

semifinals.

Winner 1 - Winner 2 16.00.

-Saturday 26.

Winner 3 - Winner 4 13.00.