Davis Cup 2026 qualifying draw: Aussies face South American altitude nightmare; USA dealt tough path

(Getty/David Gray)

For the second straight year, Australia will have to contest its first round of Davis Cup qualifying away from home, but this time in South America.

The Aussies have been drawn against Ecuador for the 2026 qualifying edition, with the winner to face either Great Britain or Norway in the second round.

On paper, Ecuador has struggled to produce top-ranked players, with their best current male players consisting of Alvaro Guillen Meza (No.197) and Andres Andrade (No.281), before having to look all the way down to Patricio Alvarado (No.1496) as their next hope in singles.

In the doubles, Diego Hidalgo (No.76) and Gonzalo Escobar (No.81) should line up for the Ecuadorians.

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With a 50 per cent chance of getting a favourable home tie, Australia was on the wrong side of the coin flip, where Ecuador will seek to capitalise on home advantage, given that they own one of the highest altitudes in the world (average elevation of 1,117 meters). The altitude of Ecuador's capital, Quito, is 2,850 meters, equivalent to 9,350 feet above sea level.

According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms when exposed to high altitude include:

• Headaches

• Light-headedness or dizziness

• Nausea or loss of appetite

• Shortness of breath, especially during physical activity

• Trouble sleeping

  
  

The bad news for Australia? Well, Ecuador played their last home tie in September in Quito, edging Bosnia & Herzegovina 3-2 to advance from World Group I.

Ecuador, captained by Raúl Viver, will almost certainly play the tie on clay courts, which historically has been Australia's least favourite surface.

The first round of qualifying will commence after January's Australian Open from February 6-8, so Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt has a selection decision to ponder, especially involving world No.7 Alex de Minaur, who particularly prefers to enter the Rotterdam Open (indoor hard) during that same timeframe. The 26-year-old is a back-to-back finalist at the event.

Australia has met Ecuador once in the Davis Cup, dating back to February 2001 in Perth, when Hewitt secured the tie by defeating Nicolas Lapentti in Perth (4-1).

The tie will be resulted in best of five rubbers.

In February this year, the green and gold knocked out Sweden 3-1 in Stockholm in the first round of qualifying.

Elsewhere in the draw, David Ferrer's Spain could potentially face Serbia in the second round, which could prove to be Novak Djokovic's final Davis Cup campaign.

Having failed to qualify for this month's Final 8 in Bologna, the USA are likely to face Czechia, who defeated the Americans in the second round of qualifying earlier this year.

Full draw:

Spain - BYE

Serbia v Chile(c)

Germany(c) v Peru

Croatia(c) v Denmark

Australia v Ecuador(c)

Great Britain v Norway(c)

Belgium v Bulgaria(c)

Austria v Japan(c)

Netherlands v India(c)

Argentina v Korea Republic(c)

USA v Hungary(c)

Czechia(c) v Sweden

France(c) v Slovakia

Canada(c) v Brazil

(c) = choice of ground

*Italy automatically qualify for the Final 8 as host nation

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