Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz could match-up in Davis Cup play

The final group stage of the 2023 Davis Cup gets underway on Tuesday and will run through Sunday. There are four group stages before the finals are played in November. Luckily for tennis fans, Serbia and Spain are both in Group C which means we could see a match-up between the ATP number 1 and number 2: Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, respectively.

If Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz meet, Alcaraz will have the crowd firmly behind him. Group C is held in Valencia, Spain. Maybe Djokovic has a fan or two on his side? Seems unlikely as most tennis fans seem to choose to root for anyone else other than Novak Djokovic, arguably the greatest player of all time.

All four final group stages are being held in Europe. Group A will take place in Bologna, Italy and that venue will host the teams from Canada, Chile, Italy (of course!), and Sweden. Group B is in Manchester, England and will host Australia, Britain, France, and Switzerland. Besides Spain and Serbia, Group C will feature the Czech Republic and South Korea. Finally, Group D will be held in Split, Croatia and will see Croatia, Finland, the Netherlands, and the United States play.

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz could face off in Davis Cup play this week

The Italian team in Group A is stacked. Top 40 players Matteo Berrettini, Lorenzo Musetti and Jannik Sinner (world number 7!) will go for Italy. Meanwhile, Canada will be without possibly their best player, Felix Auger-Aliassime. Expect the Italians to move on from this group stage.

In Group B, Australia will try to reach the finals as they did in 2022. They have the deepest team in the pool. Still, Andy Murray will play for England so that will be fun.

In Group D, the United States has top-11 players Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe going. There is no reason they shouldn’t make it out of the stage. But the great thing about the Davis Cup is the home crowd can usually affect matches as the atmosphere is a bit more rowdy than ATP-sanctioned events. Maybe Croatia surprises everyone?

Still, tune in on the Tennis Channel, home of the Davis Cup, to potentially watch Novak Djokovic versus Carlos Alcaraz. Why wouldn’t you tune in for that? Everyone else is.