Seeded places in the new Davis Cup qualifying round will be up for grabs this weekend when 16 countries face off in World Group Playoffs. World No. 8 Dominic Thiem will lead Austria at home against Australia, which will be led by #NextGenATP Alex de Minaur, along with Roger Federer’s US Open conqueror, John Millman.

Diego Schwartzman, No. 14 in the ATP Rankings, will lead Argentina on indoor clay against Colombia. And on the hard courts of Toronto, No. 20 Milos Raonic, No. 34 Denis Shapovalov and doubles legend Daniel Nestor, will lead Canada against The Netherlands, which will be led by Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer. Raonic is making his first Davis Cup appearance since 2015.

The winners of this weekend’s World Group Playoff ties will guarantee themselves a seeded spot during next year’s Davis Cup qualifying round. Other playoff matchups:

Argentina vs. Colombia – San Juan, ARG – clay (indoors)
Great Britain vs. Uzbekistan – Glasgow, GBR – hard (indoors)
Austria vs. Australia – Graz, AUT – clay (outdoors)
Switzerland vs. Sweden – Biel, SUI – hard (indoors)
Serbia vs. India – Kraljevo, SRB – clay (indoors)
Canada vs. Netherlands – Toronto, CAN – hard (indoors)
Hungary vs. Czech Republic – Budapest, HUN – clay (outdoors)
Japan vs. Bosnia/Herzegovina – Osaka, JPN – hard (outdoors)

It’s that time of the year again when the attention of the tennis world begins to focus on who will qualify for Nitto ATP Finals. Only this season’s best eight singles players and doubles teams will compete at the world’s biggest indoor tennis event, to be held at London’s iconic O2 arena from 11-18 November.

Players earn their place at the season finale by finishing in the Top 8 of the ATP Race To London on 5 November, when the ATP World Tour regular season concludes after the Rolex Paris Masters. The Race is a calendar-year points race that starts at the beginning of each ATP World Tour season. The players who win titles in Brisbane, Doha and Pune typically will share the Race lead after the first week of the season.

Throughout the season a player adds his best eligible results from up to 18 tournaments to his Race points tally. Winning a prestigious ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title earns the champion 1000 points. Titles at ATP World Tour 500 and 250-level tournaments return 500 points and 250 points, respectively. Players who don’t win the title still earn points based on how far they advance in the draw.

The Race differs from the ATP Rankings, the historical world rankings. A player’s ranking is determined by his best 18 tournament results over the preceding 52 weeks. A high ranking is needed to get into the world’s best tournaments and rankings also determine if a player is seeded. Rafael Nadal is known as the World No. 1 because he sits atop the rankings. Dominic Thiem is known as a Top 10 player because he is No. 8 in the rankings.

More often than not, a player’s Race standing is different to his ranking. For example, Kevin Anderson is seventh in the Race but ninth in the Rankings because he has enjoyed relatively more success in 2018 than over the longer time period of the past 52 weeks.

In the latter part of the season, a player’s focus turns to his position in the Race because it becomes an accurate predictor of what the player’s year-end ranking will be. And, of course, the Race determines who makes it to London.

Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are the three players who have already booked their spots at The O2. In doubles, one team – Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic – has booked its spots.

Editor’s notes: Strictly speaking, the Race begins in mid November of the preceding season (the week after the Rolex Paris Masters). Results at the Nitto ATP Finals are excluded, but players competing in late-season ATP Challenger Tour events earn points that count towards the next season’s ATP Race To London.

Officially, only the Top 7 in the Race are guaranteed places at the season finale. The eighth place is reserved for a Grand Slam champion positioned between 8th and 20th in the Race. Federer, who mathematically is not yet guaranteed to finish in the Top 7 in this year’s Race, qualified for London as this year’s Australian Open champion (Nadal and Djokovic won the other three majors, and were mathematically assured of finishing in the Top 7). That made him a current-year Grand Slam champion who mathematically cannot fall outside the Top 20 in the Race. If all Grand Slam champions of the current year are positioned in the Top 8 of the Race after Paris, then the Top 8 players in the Race qualify.

ATPWorldTour.com previews the two Davis Cup semi-finals, beginning on Friday.

CROATIA vs. UNITED STATES
Sportski Centar Visnjik, Zadar – Clay (Outdoors)

Croatia is attempting to maintain its unbeaten record against the United States in the Davis Cup. The 2005 champion beat United States in 2003, 2005, 2009 and 2016.

Croatia, almost two years on from losing to Argentina in the 2016 final, is bidding to extend its six-tie winning streak on clay courts in Zadar. Captain Zeljko Krajan has selected Marin Cilic, Borna Coric, Mate Pavic and Ivan Dodig.

Coric starts proceedings on Friday against American Steve Johnson, while Cilic faces Frances Tiafoe, who is making his Davis Cup debut. Dodig and Pavic are scheduled to challenge Mike Bryan and Ryan Harrison in Saturday’s doubles rubber. Mike Bryan is playing his first Davis Cup match since retiring from the competition in 2016.

World No. 6 Cilic, who has a 36-10 record (26-10 in singles) in Davis Cup ties, has a formidable 7-1 singles mark in home ties since 2010 (13-4 overall since his debut in 2006). He is currently tied with Ivan Ljubicic (36-19) for most Davis Cup victories for Croatia.

“I’m extremely satisfied about it,” said Tiafoe, the 141st player to represent the United States in Davis Cup. “I’m happy to be on the team, happy to get the opportunity and to be with a great group of guys. I’m just ready to go and to have a good week.”

The United States is bidding to advance to the final for the first time since 2007, when the nation defeated Russia 4-1 for its 32nd title. United States has won three of its past four away ties.

FRANCE vs. SPAIN
Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille – Hard (Indoors)

Defending champion France, 10-time titlist overall, plays host to Spain as the two countries face off in Davis Cup for the first time since 2011. Five-time winner Spain defeated France in the 2004 and 2011 semi-finals en route to the historic trophy.

Benoit Paire will make his debut for France in the first rubber against Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, while Lucas Pouille, who clinched the decisive rubber in the 2017 final, meets Roberto Bautista Agut. Julien Benneteau, who retires this year, is scheduled to join forces with Nicolas Mahut against Spain’s Marcel Granollers and Feliciano Lopez on Saturday.

“Mentally, before, I was not ready to play for the French team… But now I feel good, I feel fresh and confident,” said Paire, who is preferred over French No. 2 Richard Gasquet. “During this year, I’ve been much more consistent and honestly I feel much better in my head and now I really want to win.”

France is bidding to reach consecutive Davis Cup finals for the first time since 2001-02 – and only the seventh nation overall in the past 20 years. Spain, winners of six of its past seven ties, attempts to advance to its first title match since 2012 (l. to Czech Republic).

One year ago, Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo were the doubles team to beat on the ATP World Tour. The reigning Wimbledon champions had put together a strong North American hard-court swing and remained at No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Race To London, where they would finish the season, the first time they ended a campaign at the top spot.

But 2018 has presented a new series of challenges as the 36-year-old Kubot and 34-year-old Melo have seen the best every team has had to offer. They have gone 28-18 together this year.

But the Pole/Brazilian pairing remains in the hunt for their second consecutive appearance at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 11-18 November at The O2 in London. Kubot/Melo are in eighth place in the Doubles Race; the top eight teams qualify for the prestigious season finale.

They finished as finalists during the prestigious tournament last year, falling to two-time champions Henri Kontinen/John Peers.

Kubot/Melo started the year perfectly, winning the Sydney International. “It was great. I think we played very good in the final, as we have been playing in the tournament,” Melo said in Sydney.

They then repeated as champions at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle (d. Zverev/Zverev) and sprinted to the US Open doubles final (l. to Bryan/Sock), their first Grand Slam title match since 2017 Wimbledon.

Kubot/Melo, who are in their second full season of playing together, have enjoyed so much success because their games match up well, Kubot said. “Marcelo is so quick at the net… I’m trying to build the game from the back of the court,” Kubot said.

The pairing will have their work cut out for them if they want to finish as the year-end No. 1 doubles team again. But winning streaks are not a problem for Kubot/Melo. At one point last year, during the grass-court season and at the start of the North American hard-court swing, the team had won 17 consecutive matches.