No. 1 Alcaraz to Miss Spain’s Davis Cup Finals Opener

U.S. Open men's singles tennis champion Carlos Alcaraz poses in Times Square, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz will skip the opening round of the Davis Cup Finals on Wednesday, which is taking place only three days after the Spanish teenager won the U.S. Open.

Alcaraz arrived in Valencia a day before Spain was scheduled to face Serbia in the group stage.

Sunday’s victory over Casper Ruud in Sunday’s U.S. Open final saw the 19-year-old Alcaraz become the youngest man to lead the ATP computerized rankings since they began in 1973.

Albert Ramos Viñolas and Roberto Bautista Agut will line up for Spain in the singles matches on Wednesday, with Marcel Granollers and Pedro Martínez in the doubles.

Granollers and Bautista Agut were part of Spain’s victorious Davis Cup team in 2019.

After facing Serbia, which is without Novak Djokovic, Spain will take on Canada on Friday and South Korea on Sunday in Group B. The top two teams in each of the four groups will advance to the quarterfinals, which will be played in November in the southern Spanish city of Málaga.

Three other venues — Bologna, Italy; Hamburg, Germany; and Glasgow, Scotland — are also hosting group matches. -AP

September 14, 2022