By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
The U.S. Davis Cup team will kick off it’s 2024 campaign playing in Vilnius, Lithuania February 1-2
Team USA is not playing Lithuania but will compete against Ukraine in one of the most fascinating geo-political Davis Cup matches in the history of the competition that has, surprisingly, has received very little promotion.
The match, of course, cannot be played within the Ukrainian borders due to its war against invasion from Russia. Ukraine has been able to fend of the Russian military due in part by billions of dollars of military support from the United States, which makes this Davis Cup match much more intriguing.
Vilnius is located just 31 miles from the Lithuanian border with Belarus, Russia’s ally in its war with Ukraine. It is located about 450 miles from Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.
While there has been no press announcements from the USTA on the match, nor any major previews, interviews about the series from the International Tennis Federation, the Davis Cup website does list the particulars for the match on its website here: https://www.daviscup.com/en/draws-results/tie.aspx?id=M-DC-2024-QLS-M-UKR-USA-01
The match will be played at the SEB Arena in Vilnius on indoor hard (GreenSet Cushion Flex)
U.S. Davis Cup captain Bob Bryan will select a five-player team that will compete on a fast turnaround after the end of the Australian Open – only four days after the men’s singles final with special Thursday/Friday days of competition.
Ukraine has three players ranked in the top 300 in the ATP rankings, led by No. 169 Vitaliy Sachko followed by Illya Marchenko at No. 220 and Oleksii Krutylkh at No. 295.
The United States has 10 players ranked in the top 100, led by U.S. No. 1 Taylor Fritz at No. 10. Fritz did not play Davis Cup for the United States in 2023 and it was never recorded as to why he did not play as he or Captain Bryan was not asked why he was not on the team. (Although he did play Laver Cup for Team World the week after the Davis Cup World Group matches in Split, Croatia in September, where the USA did not advance into the eight-team Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, Spain.)
