2016 Davis Cup final preview: Argentina and Juan Martin Del Potro to face Croatia and Marin Cilic

Marin Cilic of Croatia and Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina will be the top players in action for their respective countries at the 2016 Davis Cup. Croatia made it past the United States and France, while Argentina bested Great Britain, the winners of last year’s tournament, in the semifinals.

The action will take place on Friday, Saturday and, if required, Sunday. There will be four singles matches and one doubles match played, with the first nation to reach three wins getting the overall victory in this year’s tournament. Friday will feature two singles matches, Saturday will feature the lone doubles match and if it wasn’t a straight sweep on both days, Sunday will feature two more singles matches.

Each nation has four players representing them. Joining Cilic for Croatia is Ivo Karlovic, Franko Skugor and Ivan Dodig. Joining Del Potro for Argentina is Federico Delbonis, Guido Pella and Leonardo Mayer.

Matchups can be adjusted on the fly by the coaches. For instance, if Argentina is down going into the doubles match, Del Potro can pull double duty and sub in for that match in addition to playing in singles matches on both Friday and Sunday. This happens frequently and it’s always something worth paying attention to going forward.

As usual, Cilic and Del Potro, the two top players, aren’t scheduled to meet each other until Sunday. Del Potro would seem to have the edge in that matchup as he’d had a brilliant 2016 season thus far, doing well in the Grand Slams and winning a silver medal at the Rio Olympics.

But Del Potro will first face Karlovic on Friday, while Cilic will take on Delbonis. The doubles matchup, for now, will pit Dodig and Skugor up against Mayer and Pella. On Sunday, Cilic and Del Potro are set to meet, while Karlovic will face Delbonis in the fifth and final matchup, would it be required.

Del Potro definitely has the most momentum of any player in the tournament at this point. But Cilic is a very tough opponent and Argentina could be looking at a deficit following Day 1 and Day 2, at which point they would need Del Potro to beat Cilic in the one-on-one.

Below is all you need to watch Friday’s action

Time: 5 a.m. ET

Location: Arena Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

TV: Tennis Channel

Online Streaming: Tennis Channel Plus