Preview: 2023 Davis Cup Juniors Finals
The 2023 Davis Cup Juniors Finals get underway on Monday in Córdoba where 16 teams will battle to be crowned the world's best in the 16-and-under age category. It is quite the accolade.
The Finals are the culmination of a season-long competition which sees nations navigate qualifying events across five regions – Asia/Oceania, Europe, Africa, South America and North/Central America and the Caribbean.
The 16 nations that will contest Finals are: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Czechia, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Peru, Spain, Thailand, and USA.
Teams will be split into four groups from where three days of round-robin action will take place, with the top two nations in each group advancing to the knockout stage. The quarter-finals, semis and final will take place from 3-5 November following a scheduled day off.
The Finals will take place on outdoor clay courts across two venues – Open Arena, Córdoba and the Real Aeroclub de Córdoba – and kickstarts what is set to be a memorable November in the region of Andalucia.
Indeed, Andalucia will assume the role of “super host” in the coming weeks as it becomes the home for the latter stages of major ITF events, with the Billie Jean King Cup Juniors by Gainbridge Finals taking place from 6-12 November.
That is the same week as the elite-level Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Finals, which are taking place at Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville, while the Davis Cup Final 8 will then take place in Malaga from 21-26 November.
As ever, there are some intriguing storylines ahead of the Davis Cup Juniors Finals. Brazil, for instance, will head to Córdoba as the defending champions having become the 14th nation to win the title by triumphing in Antalya, Türkiye last year.
Of the 16 teams competing, 10 are former champions, and hosts Spain will claim sole ownership of the record for most Davis Cup Juniors titles, ahead of Australia, if they top the podium for the seventh time.
The highest-ranked player at the Finals, meanwhile, is junior world No. 10 Federico Cina, who last week featured at the 2023 ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in Chengdu, and he will spearhead Italy’s title bid.
There are also some notable national achievements, with Kazakhstan set to make their very first appearance at a Davis Cup Juniors Finals, while Thailand and Netherlands have qualified for the first time since 2011 and 2013 respectively.
It is also worth noting that previous winning teams have featured the likes of Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, while a host of top ATP players have played this event.
Whatever happens on court, there is no denying the importance of the Davis Cup Juniors Finals in terms of player development and those on show during the coming week will be all the better for their time in Córdoba.
At last year's Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup Juniors Finals, a behind-the-scenes video was produced which followed USA's girls all the way to their title-winning moment. Click here to watch the video.