The Culture Amp Australian Davis Cup team, led by captain and Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt, will take on Poland at Pat Rafter Arena from Saturday 19 to Sunday 20 September.
Both countries will face-off in a fiercely contested 2026 World Group I tie. The winner will progress to the 2027 Qualifiers and move one step closer to securing a place in the 2027 Davis Cup Finals. The losing nation will battle it out in the World Group stage in 2027 with an aim to progress back into the Qualifiers and Finals the following year in 2028.
Hewitt said the high-stakes clash provided an exciting opportunity for Queenslanders to come and see some world-class, high-intensity tennis.
“It’s so important for us to go out there and get the opportunity to play in front of our home fans because normally we only get that chance in January,” Hewitt said. “Pat Rafter Arena is a great stadium with a nice indoor roof, and the weather conditions will be perfect.
“I’m expecting our guys to go out there, leave it all on the court and come pretty fired up.”
This will be the first time in Davis Cup’s 126-year history that Australia and Poland will face-off on Australian soil. The only other time they have previously met was in 2013 in Warsaw, where Australia won 4-1.
“We think it’s going to be a really tough matchup,” Hewitt said. “They’ve got plenty of options in the singles and they’ve got a couple of very well played doubles players as well. So, we certainly won’t be taking anything lightly.”
The Australian and Polish team line-ups will be announced at a later date, closer to the tie. Australia currently boasts five players ranked in the top 100, while Poland has two, including former world No.6 Hubert Hurkacz.
Australia is No.8 in the Davis Cup rankings and sits second on the all-time titles list with 28. Poland is ranked No.29 and is chasing its first Davis Cup title.
The tie will be played on hard court, with two singles matches on Saturday, followed by doubles and reverse singles on Sunday. Play will begin at 1.00pm each day.
Fast Facts
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Twenty-six nations will compete in thirteen home-or-away ties in World Group I.
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Australia and Poland are joined by Argentina, Türkiye, Netherlands, Colombia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Brazil, Switzerland, Finland, Monaco, Denmark, Bulgaria, Serbia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Greece, New Zealand, Japan, Norway, China, Portugal, Ukraine, Mexico and Romania.
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The thirteen winning nations will progress to the 2027 Qualifiers.
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The thirteen losing nations will take part in the 2027 World Group I Play-offs.
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Australia competed in a Davis Cup Qualifier in Ecuador on clay in February this year, losing 3-1.
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Ties will be played as best-of-five matches, with two singles matches on day one, followed by the doubles match and the two reverse singles matches on day two. All matches are played as best-of-three tiebreak sets.
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This will be the 18th Davis Cup tie held in Brisbane, Australia.
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The last time Davis Cup tennis was held at Pat Rafter Arena was in February 2018 when Germany defeated Australia 3-1.
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Australia is currently eighth in the Davis Cup rankings.
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Australia have finished Davis Cup runners-up twice in the past four years, in 2022 and 2023.
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Australia have won the Davis Cup title 28 times, second only to the USA with 32.
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Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Philippoussis, Todd Woodbridge, Wayne Arthurs and captain John Fitzgerald last led Australia to victory in 2003 with a 3-1 win over Spain at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne
About Davis Cup
The Davis Cup was founded in 1900 and is the world’s premier men’s team tennis competition. It is the world’s largest annual international team competition in sport, with more than 150 nations participating.
Players represent their country in team-based ties held across the globe in a promotion and relegation format, with the ultimate aim to secure a place as one of the final eight nations competing in the Davis Cup Finals. National pride takes precedence over individual rankings as teams compete for one of tennis’ most coveted titles.
