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Davis Cup Group I Europe / Africa clash between Finland and Austria will take place on September 13-14 at the Espoo Metro Areena in Espoo on an indoor hard court. Between 1955-2003, Austria won all five clashes against Finland and they should be the favorites in September again, with the captain Stefan Koubek calling Dominic Thiem, Dennis Novak, Sebastian Ofner, Oliver Marach and Jurgen Melzer, their strongest possible squad at the moment.
The three-time ATP champion in 2019 and Roland Garros runner-up, Dominic Thiem has decided to join the national team for the sixth straight year, eager to keep Austria in Group I and fight for the spot at the Davis Cup Finals in the years to come.
Back in February, Austria lost to Chile in the Davis Cup Qualifying round in front of the home fans and Thiem wants to make sure they are going to score a routine triumph in Finland and avoid the Group II relegation. Dominic was ready to make the Davis Cup debut back in 2014 against Slovakia, losing both rubbers and finding no winning rhythm in 2015 as well, losing to Thiem de Bakker in five sets and to Robin Haase in straight sets, gathering the experience and rattling off nine wins in the next ten David Cup rubbers.
In 2016, Thiem prevailed against Gastao Elias in the deciding set tie break, prevailing in the doubles clash with Alexander Peya in five sets and toppling Joao Sousa for a perfect weekend and signs of better days in the oldest national tennis competition.
In 2017, Thiem delivered two singles wins over Romania and embraced two ties in 2018, securing four singles victories against Belarus and Australia but not being able to carry his country six months ago versus Chile.