France vs. Croatia
đź“Ť Osijek, Croatia
This a duel between two teams with enthusiastic fan bases, as well as well a rematch of the 2018 final, the last before the format change. That year, Croatia defeated defending champion France in Lille. Which means this year the French team will travel to Osijek, where they’ll be greeted by a sea of checkered Croatian shirts.
Croatia will be led by the man who led them in 2018, Marin Cilic, and will be anchored by a Grand Slam-winning doubles team in Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic.
France, by contrast, will be led by a newcomer in Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, a towering serve-bomber who hasn’t progressed the way fans from his country had hoped in 2025. After that, France brings three solid second-tier names—Corentin Moutet, Benjamin Bonzi, and Arthur Rinderknech—and 34-year-old doubles specialist Pierre Hugues-Herbert.
Croatia may need two wins from Cilic to make it through.
Winner: France
Germany vs. Japan
đź“Ť Tokyo, Japan
It’s been a while. Ninety-three years, to be exact. The last time Germany and Japan faced off was in 1933, before they allied themselves in World War II.
This long-delayed rematch will be the rare tie where the go-to weapon will be a doubles team. That’s Germany’s Kevin Kraweitz and Tim Puetz, longtime fixtures in the ATP’s Top 20, who are 17-1 and 19-1 in Davis Cup, respectively. Penciling them in as winners means that Japan will need to be sharper in its singles matches.
Even there, though, Germany should have the edge. It will send out Jan-Lennard Struff and Yannick Hanfmann against lower-ranked Shintaro Mochizuki, Yosuke Watanuki, and Yoshihito Nishioka.
Home-court advantage will help Japan. They’ll need it.
Winner: Germany
