Argentina and Britain, recent winners of the Davis Cup, were given wild cards on Wednesday to compete in next year’s finals of the revamped competition.
LONDON — Argentina and Britain, recent winners of the Davis Cup, were given wild cards on Wednesday to compete in next year’s finals of the revamped competition.
Argentina, 2016 victors, and Britain, who won the previous year, have been selected to join the four semifinalists from this year’s edition — France, Croatia, Spain and United States — in the 18-team Davis Cup event in November 2019.
Those nations will be joined in the new weeklong tournament by 12 others, who will secure their places through qualifiers in February.
Argentina and Britain were due to compete in the qualifiers but will now be spared that hurdle after the Davis Cup steering committee gave them a pass into the finals, which will be held in either Lille, France, or Madrid.
With Argentina and Britain earning wild cards, Australia and Switzerland gained seedings for the qualifying event.
The makeover of the Davis Cup, the premier team event in men’s tennis, was approved by the International Tennis Federation in August. The new format was created in partnership with the investment group Kosmos, founded by the soccer star Gerard Piqué.
The steering committee — comprising Piqué, the former Spanish tennis player Galo Blanco, I. T. F. president David Haggerty and I. T. F. vice president Rene Stammbach — gave wild cards to two nations with a rich Davis Cup history and a bit of star power.
Argentina, led by Juan Martín del Potro, won its first Davis Cup in 2016. The British team won their 10th title in 2015, thanks to an inspired performance from Andy Murray.
With Kosmos promising to invest about $119 million (more than 90 million pounds) into the Davis Cup and grass-roots tennis, one of the main goals of the new format is to attract the biggest stars for the finals.
Switzerland and Australia being seeded improves the prospects of the Swiss duo Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka and the Australian star Nick Kyrgios reaching the finals.
The last of the Davis Cup final to be staged under the traditional format will see France attempting to defend its title against Croatia in Lille in November.
The draw was held Wednesday to determine the qualifying matchups, which will be played Feb. 1-2,2019. (The final two participating nations, from Europe or Africa, will be named after playoffs in October.) Here are the matchups:
Belgium at Brazil
Serbia at Uzbekistan
Bosnia at Australia
Italy at India
Hungary at Germany
Russia at Switzerland
Netherlands at Czech Republic
Sweden at Colombia
Chile at Austria
Japan at China
T. B. D. at Canada
T. B. D. at Kazakhstan
