Victory on Friday and Saturday would result in a spot in the finals, a first for Korea in “The World Cup of Tennis.”
Korea's Kwon Soon-woo celebrates after defeating Argentina's Thiago Agustin Tirante at the Gijang Gymnasium in Busan on Feb. 8. REUTERS/YONHAP

The Korean men's tennis team will face India this week for a spot in the Davis Cup Final 8, with a win putting the team in the world's final eight for the first time since it debuted in the competition 66 years ago.

The Davis Cup, first held in 1900, is the premier annual international team competition in men's tennis that bills itself as "The World Cup of Tennis." Drawing entries from 159 countries, the Final 8 is the competition's culminating stage. 

Korea and India will battle for one of those eight spots at the Olympic Tennis Court in Songpa District, southern Seoul. Two singles matches will be played Friday, followed by one doubles and two singles matches on Saturday.

The team that wins three of the five matches first will advance to the Final 8, which opens in November in Bologna, Italy.

The competition's finals were contested among 16 nations in past years but were cut to eight this year. If Korea beats India, it will reach the world's final eight for the first time since it first competed in the Davis Cup in 1960. Its best result to date is the Round of 16, which it reached five times.

"This is a tournament where I feel a lot of pressure. It's more nerve-wracking than competing in individual tour events," Korea's Kwon Soon-woo said at a press conference on Wednesday ahead of the India match. “I want to experience the tremendous honor of representing Korea in the Davis Cup Finals, where the world’s top eight teams compete.”

Chung Hyeon, another of the team's top players who joined Kwon at the press conference, also said he felt "a sense of responsibility and pressure" playing for his country in a team event.

Russian Tennis Federation team celebrates with the trophy on the podium after winning the Davis Cup at the Madrid Arena in Madrid, Spain, on Dec. 5, 2021. REUTERS/YONHAP

Korea holds a slight edge on paper, ranked 16th in the world to India's 19th, with a 6-5 head-to-head lead in the Davis Cup. But it has lost its two most recent meetings with India, in 2014 and 2016. India, for its part, pulled off an upset in February's first qualifying round, beating sixth-ranked Netherlands 3-2 while ranked 33rd at the time.

India, which last reached the Davis Cup main draw in 1987, is putting its full weight behind this weekend's match. The Sports Authority of India earmarked 3.25 million rupees ($34,000) in special training funding for the team over a seven-day stretch from Friday to Thursday ahead of the match against Korea. The government funding covered a separate budget for the team to arrive in Korea early and adjust to the time difference and playing conditions.

The Times of India, the country's biggest newspaper, has given the match heavy coverage, framing it as a chance for India to make history by upsetting Korea and reaching the Final 8. Reflecting the surge of interest at home, the Indian streaming platform Veto secured exclusive Indian streaming rights for this year's Davis Cup. Because Veto is a free platform, the Korea-India match is expected to draw as many as several hundred million viewers in India. 

Korea plans to make the most of its home-court advantage. According to the Korea Tennis Association, most tickets for the pivotal second day of play on Saturday — 9,300 seats in total — have already been sold.

With home fans expected to rally behind the team, Korea head coach Jeong Jong-sam said he was confident of victory. "I think all the players want to etch their names into history," he said. "India is on the rise and looks to be in good shape, but we're not far behind them."