Canada vs. Spain
Team Canada: Milos Raonic, Vasek Pospisil, Frank Dancevic, Daniel Nestor
Team Spain: Marcel Granollers, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Albert Ramos, Marc Lopez
Spain sends a depleted squad, especially when its highest ranked player on the team is Marcelo Granollers. They feature doubles specialist Marc Lopez who is currently ranked #3 in doubles. Canada combats with Milos Raonic and #4 rated doubles player Daniel Nestor.
On paper you have to lean towards Canada with Raonic and being at home, but no way can I pick Canada to beat the Spaniards who have owned Davis Cup ties with as much regularity as their National Football Team has soccer.
Pick: Spain 3-2
Italy vs. Croatia
Team Italy: Andreas Seppi, Fabio Fognini, Paolo Lorenzi, Simone Bolelli
Team Croatia: Marin Cilic, Ivan Dodig, Nikola Metkic, Mate Pavcic
The Italians will be at home, and their only tough foe will be Cilic. Dodig is a serviceable "jobber", but the other two guys are nobodies. Seppi is having a good start to the season, and Fognini plays well on clay. Fognini will also get under the skin of the Croats with his shenanigans.
Pick: Italy in a minor upset 4-1
Belgium vs. Serbia
Team Belgium: David Goffin, Steve Darcis, Ruben Bemelmans, Olivier Rochus
Team Serbia: Novak Djokovic, Viktor Troicki, Nenad Zimonjic, Boris Pashanski
Belgium is at home....Who cares? This will be an ass beating.
Pick: Serbia 5-0
United States vs. Brazil
Team USA: John Isner, Sam Querrey, Mike Bryan, Bob Bryan.
Team Brazil: Thomaz Bellucci, Thiago Alves, Marcelo Melo, Bruno Soares
This is a perfect matchup for the United States here. Isner is probably still complaining of fatigue from the match vs. Mahut at Wimbledon, but even on one leg he should be able to beat his opponent. This will be a walkthrough for the home Americans.
Pick: United States 4-1
France vs. Israel
Team France: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet, Julien Benneteau, Michael Llodra
Team Israel: Dudi Sela, Amir Weintraub, Jonathan Erlich, Noam Okun
France is way too powerful and talented. On top of that, they are playing in France. Maybe Israel pulls out a doubles win, or a match that will not matter on the 3rd day if they are lucky.
Pick: France 5-0
Argentina vs. Germany
Team Argentina: Juan Monaco, Horacio Zeballos, Carlos Berlocq, David Nalbandian
Team Germany: Philipp Kohlschreiber, Florian Mayer, Tobias Kamke, Christopher Kas
This should be a highly competitive matchup. Juan Monaco is the highest ranked player between both teams, but has not had a good start to this season. Kohlschreiber and Mayer are playing fairly well. But the matches will be played on clay in Argentina. That may be the difference in a tie that may come down to the last match.
Pick: Argentina 3-2
Kazakhstan vs. Austria
Team Kazakhstan: Mikhail Kukushkin, Andrey Golubev, Evgeny Korolev, Yuriy Schukin
Team Austria: Jurgen Melzer, Andreas Haider-Maurer, Alexander Peya, Julian Knowle
I really like Kazakhstan in this matchup. Beyond Melzer, Austria doesn't really have that strong of a team. Kazakhstan playing at home, with a rowdy crowd behind them...Hell, when was the last time a major sporting event was played in Kazakhstan? The Borat-like people will be stirred into a frenzy and push their tennis playing brethren to victory.
Pick: Kazakhstan 3-2
Switzerland vs. Czech Republic
Team Switzerland: Stanislas Wawrinka, Marco Chiudinelli, Michael Lammer, Henri Laaksonen
Team Czech Republic: Tomas Berdych, Lukas Rosol, Ivo Minar, Jiri Vesely
The defending champion Czech team start their cup defense on the road in Switzerland. Switzerland's most famous resident Roger Federer decided not to play this time around. Leaving Stanislas Wawrinka and 3 bums to defend the home soil. The Czech team features Tomas Berdych, who is one of the elite players in the world, but is without their bothersome gnat Radek Stepanek. The Czech team is just better, and who knows how Wawrinka will respond in his first match since the crushing defeat to Novak Djokovic. His confidence may be slightly fractured at the moment. I'm not ready to count the champs out yet.
Pick: Czech Republic 4-1
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