Tiafoe, Paul, McDonald, Krajicek & Ram to be on 2023 Davis Cup Finals Group Stage team

Bob Bryan will bring a loaded team to Split, Croatia next month for his first official tie as U.S. Davis Cup captain. Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Mackenzie McDonald, Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram will make up the American squad for the group stage of the 2023 Davis Cup Finals, which will be played from Sept. 12-17. 

The Group Stage consists of four groups of four nations who are competing for the right to advance to the eight-nation knockout stage that will crown this year’s Davis Cup champion. The U.S. was drawn in Group D in March, and will play hosts Croatia, Finland and the Netherlands in a round-robin competition; the top-two finishers in each of the four groups will advance to the winner-take-all final stage, which will be played from Nov. 21-26 in Malaga, Spain. 

Each tie in the group stage is comprised to three matches featuring two singles and one doubles match. Dates and times of U.S. ties in Split can be found below. 

Four of the five players on Bryan's team helped secure the U.S. a spot in the group stage, as Paul, McDonald, Krajicek and Ram led the U.S. to a 4-0 sweep of Uzbekistan in Tashkent in February's qualifying round. Both McDonald and Paul made their Davis Cup debuts in that tie, with Paul playing as the U.S. No. 1 on the back of his first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open. The U.S. was led there by interim captain David Nainkin ahead of Bryan's appointment to the post in March. 

Tiafoe, who as of this week is ranked world No. 10 in the ATP rankings after cracking the elite for the first time in June, is slated to play as the U.S. No. 1 in Split, having last donned the red, white and blue in Malaga last November in the U.S. team's 2-1 defeat against Italy in the quarterfinals.