World No.24 Alex de Minaur (NSW), Thanasi Kokkinakis (SA), Matt Ebden (WA) and Max Purcell (NSW) will represent Australia at the 2022 Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals in Malaga, Spain from 22 to 27 November 2022.<\/p>\n
Australia plays the Netherlands in the first quarterfinal on Tuesday 22 November at the Palacio de Deportes Martin Carpena.<\/p>\n
The quarterfinal marks Australia\u2019s third consecutive Davis Cup finals appearance, while the Netherlands will make their first finals appearance since 2005. This is the first time Australia and the Netherlands have met in Davis Cup competition.<\/p>\n
Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt and his coaching team have named an unchanged line-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlex (De Minaur) has had a fantastic Davis Cup record this year. He\u2019s played some of his best tennis in Davis Cup,\u201d Hewitt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s gone from strength-to-strength in this competition over the last few years and he\u2019s going to help lead us again in our quarterfinal match against the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanasi Kokkinakis did everything that we asked of him in Sydney earlier in the year against Hungary to get us into the group stage of the Davis Cup finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was able to win that clincher for us in the fifth rubber, which was massive against (Zsombor) Piros. And then played really well in his last match in Hamburg against Germany, winning that match in the No.1 singles slot. I think he\u2019s got a very dangerous game and especially on the indoor surface.<\/p>\n
\u201cMax Purcell played extremely well in Hamburg on debut. He handled the pressure of playing big, important matches and he gelled extremely well with Matt Ebden, who came back into the team obviously after the boys won Wimbledon, their first Grand Slam title.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Netherlands are going to be tough,\u201d Hewitt added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey came through in an extremely tough group in the Davis Cup in Glasgow during the group stage. We\u2019re going to have to try and make them play a lot of balls out there, try and wear them down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be easy, especially in this format of only playing three matches. Hopefully we can get off to a good start against them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a good run so far on the way to the finals, we\u2019ve done absolutely everything but there is still a way to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can find a way to get through the quarterfinal stage then it really opens up, it\u2019s a massive opportunity to be only a couple of matches away from potentially holding up the Davis Cup trophy this year, which is a huge goal, not just for the coaching team, myself, Jaymon Crabb and Tony Roche, but also for the players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve made a lot of sacrifices to give us the best opportunity to have a crack at the Davis Cup and we\u2019re awfully close this year and want to go out there and make the most of these opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australia and the Netherlands have qualified for the knock-out stages of the Davis Cup Finals alongside Italy, United States, Germany, Canada, Croatia and Spain.<\/p>\n