Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court.
This week, the Davis Cup returned, there were two very short matches — in very different ways — and one women’s tournament bore the brunt of tennis schedule fatigue.
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What’s going on in the Davis Cup?
The final eight for the Davis Cup group stage finals were decided over the weekend, with Canada and the Netherlands joining Italy, Australia, Spain, Germany, Argentina and the United States as the qualified nations. The latter topped their group last week in Zhuhai, China, despite being without any of Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton.
Spain’s qualification will be a particular relief to the tournament organizers given the finals are taking place in the Spanish city of Malaga. Home fans can look forward to seeing the star quality of Carlos Alcaraz — and possibly Rafael Nadal — with the former looking much more like himself in Spain’s group matches against France and the Czech Republic. Alcaraz produced a consummate performance to beat France’s Ugo Humbert 6-3, 6-3 after his first appearance since losing early at the U.S. Open ended quickly on…
