United States Davis Cup Team set to face Australia at Final 8

The United States Davis Cup Team begins its ultimate quest for a 33rd championship on Thursday at the Davis Cup Final 8 in Malaga, Spain. The Americans bring a strong lineup to square off against a formidable Australian team in a meeting of traditional rivals befitting the amplified fanfare in Malaga, where Rafael Nadal played his final professional match on Tuesday. 

The U.S. team is led by world No. 4 Taylor Fritz, No. 12 Tommy Paul, No. 21 Ben Shelton—who is making his Davis Cup debut—and former doubles world No. 1s Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram. The U.S. is captained by Davis Cup champion and newly inducted Hall of Famer Bob Bryan.

"The dream is to win the cup," said Bryan. "I think we all have the belief. Obviously the first hurdle is Australia, so we're ultra-focused on that. We're going to be prepared."

The Aussies feature world No. 9 Alex De Minaur, No. 24 Alexei Popyrin, singles No. 26 and doubles No. 3 Jordan Thompson, singles No. 77 Thanasi Kokkinakis, and doubles No. 13 Matthew Ebden. Australia is captained by Davis Cup champion and Hall of Famer Lleyton Hewitt.

Teams officially submit their lineups one hour prior to the start of play, which is set for 4 a.m. ET (10 a.m. local time). The first team to win two matches wins the tie and advances to the Saturday's semifinals against Italy or Argentina. The final will be played on Sunday.

This will be the 48th meeting of the two winningest nations in Davis Cup history, with the U.S. owning 32 titles to Australia's 28. They have not met since 2017, when Australia earned a 3-2 victory in Brisbane in the World Group Quarterfinals. The U.S. leads the all-time series 26-21.