National pride, not to mention millions in prize money, are on the line for the world’s top men’s tennis players competing in the 2022 Davis Cup.
Grand slam season is over, but the world’s best are still clashing for cash — and country — in the World Cup of Tennis.
The 110th Davis Cup now takes center court in the tennis world. Fans will watch as some of the top players in men’s tennis join forces with their fellow countrymen in the largest annual international team competition in world sports.
The early stages of this year’s competition saw a record 148 nations enter in the qualifiers.
The current Davis Cup Finals group stage competition, which takes place Sept. 13-18 in four locations (Bologna, Glasgow, Hamburg, and Valencia), pits national teams from 16 countries in singles and doubles matches.
Top names competing in this year’s international competition include the 2022 US Open Champion and new world No. 1, Carlos Alcaraz (Spain), not to mention US Open runner-up Casper Ruud (Norway).
Other notable male players include Andy Murray (Great Britain), Richard Gasquet (France), and Matteo Berrettini (Italy).
Rafael Nadal (Spain), the all-time leader in Grand Slams and second-winningest men’s player for all-time earnings, and Alexander Zverev (Germany), the No. 5 ranked player in the world, are a couple notable absences to this year’s competition.
Not only are the players and teams competing for a chance to advance to the quarterfinal knock-out stage in November — the top two teams in each group advance — but there’s also a lot of prize money in play.
Let’s have a look at potential Davis Cup payouts to the top-performing players and their teams.
Davis Cup Prize Money
If this year’s Davis Cup payouts mirror the past, then players stand to make decent money in the weeks ahead.
According to Perfect-Tennis.com, the total prize money fund for 2021 was over $15.3 million. Players and their national associations will split the winnings, according to the report.
While the International Tennis Federation has not released the 2022 figures, the most recent prize money breakdown comes from 2019. That year, the winning team walked away with roughly $2 million, and the national association earned around $1 million.
If historical figures hold true, here’s a look at the potential payout for each team depending on where they finish:
- Winner — $2.1 million
- Runner Up — $1.5 million
- Semi-Final — $1.3 million
- Quarterfinal — $1.1 million
- Group Stages — $514,000
The ITF communications team has not yet responded to an email inquiring about the 2022 Davis Cup prize money.
Who Will Win the Davis Cup?
Winning the Davis Cup is all about strategy.
Each nation assembles a team of four or five male players with the coaches deciding who will compete in singles and doubles matches. The matches are then played in a round-robin format during the group stage, with the top two teams in each four-team group advancing to the quarterfinals.
As for who will win it all, one thing is for certain: There will be no repeat champion.
Last year’s champ, the Russian Tennis Federation, was banned from competing in international events due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. As was the team from Belarus.
The United States, the most successful nation in the history of the competition (32 victories), is looking for a bounce-back performance after losing in the group stages in 2021.
While FanDuel Sportsbook is not offering future bets on the overall winner, it is posting daily odds for individual matchups in the Davis Cup.