The budding rivalry between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic is set to be renewed in the group stage of the Davis Cup finals next month.

The matches between them have been pretty spectacular so far. The first one came at the Madrid Open last year and saw Alcaraz rise above the Serbian to defeat him in a pretty close 3-setter. The second match came only this year, at Roland Garros, and it was a pretty great one for about two sets with the score being tied. Disaster struck in the 3rd set as Alcaraz started to cramp, and Djokovic cruised from there.

The best one yet came at Wimbledon recently, which saw Djokovic dominate early, but Alcaraz won in the end. It was a spectacular showing, and the match that sort of cemented the rivalry.

Both Djokovic and Alcaraz were nominated by the team captains of their countries for the Davis Cup. It means that if both are healthy and do participate, we’ll see them battle it out sometime between September 12th and September 17th in Valencia, Spain.

Djokovic last played for Serbia back in 2021 when the country took part in the Finals, but it wasn’t enough as none of his teammates could win a single match. Last year Djokovic skipped over the competition leaving the country vulnerable, and once again, they didn’t make it.

This year the hope is for the country to finally go all the way though they will heavily rely on Djokovic to lead them there.

Spain and Serbia have been drawn in the same group along with the Czech Republic and South Korea. Group-stage matches will also be played in Bologna, Italy, Manchester, England, and Split, Croatia. The top two teams in each of the four groups will advance to the finals in Malaga, Spain, in November.

Nine of the current top 20 players in the world have been called up for their national teams – Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti for Italy, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul for the United States, Alex de Minaur for Australia, Cameron Norrie for Britain and Borna Coric for Croatia.

Andy Murray is back in the Great Britain Davis Cup squad for the group stage finals in Manchester.

The former world No. 1 was omitted from the GB squad that claimed a 3-1 win over Colombia in February, as Jack Draper was called up instead.

However, the 36-year-old has now been recalled for the matches against Australia, France and Switzerland.

Elsewhere, reigning champions Canada are in Group A with Italy, Sweden and Chile, while Group D consists of Croatia, the Netherlands, the United States and Finland.