Fans of the Davis Cup will not have to wait long before they get to watch their countries in action in 2012. The competition kicks off in earnest on the 10th February with the first round of World Group matches.
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It’s a bizarre quirk of the Davis Cup format that a country can win it in December and then crash out in the first round barely two months later. With no seedings there’s no protection for even the strongest teams and round one sees a mouthwatering clash between Roger Federer’s Switzerland and the USA.
It will be intriguing to see how seriously Federer takes the competition this season. The Swiss has started to feature in his country’s ties on a more regular basis and he may be realizing that time is running out for his hopes of one day lifting the trophy.
Federer will prefer the schedule this year with the quarter-finals taking place a lot earlier than usual, moved back from their original July slot to the beginning of April (6th-8th) ahead of the clay-court swing.
The competition then takes a break of nearly six months before the semi-finals take place straight after the US Open in September (14th-16th) with the final scheduled for mid-November (16th-18th) after the conclusion of the ATP World Tour Finals.
