World Group playoff ties announced
Australia will travel to Germany in September in an attempt to move back into Davis Cup's 16-team World Group for the first time since 2007.
The 28-time winners will have history on their side: the previous time Australia faced Germany in Davis Cup, now-captain Patrick Rafter partnered Mark Woodforde in doubles to give Australia an unbeatable 3-0 lead in a quarterfinal in Adelaide.
The draw for the September 14-16 playoffs was made on Wednesday in London. Australia advanced to their fifth World Group playoff in six years by completing a 5-0 sweep of a South Korea last weekend in the Asia Oceania zone.
In other World Group playoffs on the same weekend, Kazakhstan will host Uzbekistan, Israel travels to Japan, Belgium hosts Sweden, Canada plays in South Africa, Brazil hosts Russia, Italy plays at home to Chile and Switzerland travels to the Netherlands.
The World Group playoffs are made up of the eight losing countries from the World Group first round this year, plus the eight second-round winners from zonal competitons.
