Davis Cup – World Group Teams Men
USA – Slovakia: 13.09.2024 08:00 CEST
H2H: 3-0
1st potential matchup:
Brandon Nakashima – Jozef Kovalik
Brandon and Jozef are the best ranked players for the USA and Slovakia. This meeting will be played indoors on hard. Nakashima reached the fourth round of the US Open, where he lost against Zverev in four sets. So far this season, Brandon has had some solid results, which have brought him back into the top 50. Nakashima won his opening match against Tabilo in three tight sets as we predicted. Jozef Kovalik has lost his last six matches. In his last match against Germany, Jozef lost against Hanfmann in three tight sets.
We believe that Nakashima is currently in better form than Jozef. Brandon had a solid US Open tournament, and his opening match here at the Davis Cup, so we believe that he will be confident coming into this match. On the other hand, Kovalik is still struggling with his form.
That being said, we believe that Nakashima will win the first match for the USA.
2nd potential matchup:
Mackenzie McDonald – Lukas Klein
Mackenzie and Lukas are the second best ranked players for the USA and Slovakia. McDonald lost in the first round of the US Open against Sinner in four sets as we predicted. Mackenzie did not have much success this season, which led to him being out of the top 100 in the rankings. Lukas Klein has lost four of his last five matches. His last match was against Marterer, here at the Davis Cup, where he lost against Marterer in straight sets.
McDonald is still a better player than Klein. We believe that he will be ready for this matchup, and win against Klein, who is out of form.
That being said, we believe that McDonald will win the second match for the USA.
3rd potential matchup:
Ram/Krajicek – Klein/Zelenay
We expect the USA and Slovakia to play their doubles matches like this. Krajicek and Ram played at the Olympic Games together. They reached the final, where they fell short against Ebden and Peers in three tight sets. Both of them have been playing together for a while now. Igor Zelenay has spent most of this season playing at the ITF level. He recently won the title in Austria on clay. His partner, Klein, did not play many doubles matches this season. Both of them have played a couple of matches together. Here at the Davis Cup, Igor and Lukas lost their opening match against Krawietz and Puetz in straight sets. Earlier this year at the Davis Cup, Igor and Lukas won their Davis Cup match against Cacic and Kecmanovic.
The Americans will be better players under these conditions. Klein and Zelenay are not on that level, so we believe that they will have no answer for the Americans.
That being said, we believe that Ram and Krajicek will get the third win for the USA.
Best Bet to Make
The USA has more experienced players at this moment. We believe that they will dominate in both singles and doubles, and win this meeting easily.
That being said, USA winning 3-0 is a value bet.
Main Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
