There is no doubt that the Italian team, after losing Djokovic, Rublev and Kartsev, is now the favorite in this tournament: it has two of the top 10 veteran players from their best seasons, it has the deepest team (Sonego, Fognini and Bolelli are luxury spare parts and at least two of them will be players starters in all other teams) and comes from last year’s excellent result. Having said that, it may seem a predictable victory, but there are, in my opinion, some unknowns, and two in particular: 1. Britney’s state of form, and the return from an injury not very long, but still heavy; 2. The unknown double, because Italy not only has players who specialize in doubles (I mean constantly playing in the doubles arena), but has not yet found two specific names, as Serbia and Russia did with Djokovic. / Kasic and Rublev / Karatsev (who undoubtedly jeopardized, along with the Sunego disaster, the match against Croatia which could also complicate some Australian matches). Add to this that the first sinner is still a bit full, even if this seems to me by far the least of evils. In short, the tournament itself is relatively valuable, in the sense that it has few traditions and it is more than anything else the allocation of individual prizes (reading points) within a group competition, but it is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity (even without Volandri) to solve those problems that recently have not allowed us to reach to the final at Davis (or the rest of it).
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