Thursday 27 September 2018 15:23, UK
Madrid has been selected to host the first two instalments of the revamped Davis Cup finals.
The Spanish capital will stage the 2019 and 2020 tournaments, it was announced on Thursday.
Returning in a revised format, the week-long Davis Cup finals is to consist of 18 teams and has now been confirmed to take place at La Caja Magica - the current venue for the Madrid Open - in November 2019.
The following edition will either also be held at the same venue, or played at the WiZink Centre in 2020.
Under its new format, the Davis Cup will see a group stage take place over the first four days, with the participating countries split into six groups of three.
"We are delighted to be bringing the 2019 Davis Cup finals to Madrid," International Tennis Federation president David Haggerty said in a statement.
"The city is a fitting location to stage the highest quality tennis... We look forward to working with the city to realise our ambitions of elevating the Davis Cup to a new level."
Each tie will consist of two singles and one doubles match over a best-of-three set format, with the six group winners and two best second-placed teams qualifying for the quarter-finals.
Teams who finish fifth to 16th in the group stages will participate in qualifiers the following year, while the teams who finish 17th and 18th will be relegated to their respective zone groups.
The announcement comes a day after Argentina and Britain were handed wild cards to compete in the 2019 finals.
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