Nadal to miss Davis Cup group stage, Djokovic leads Serbia

LONDON (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz will lead Spain against Novak Djokovic’s Serbia next month in the Davis Cup group stage after Rafael Nadal wasn’t named to the Spanish team. Nadal is set to return to competition at this week’s hard-court tournament in Cincinnati after an abdominal injury caused the 22-time Grand Slam champion to pull out of Wimbledon ahead of the semifinals. The injury also kept him out of this month’s event in Montreal, another hard-court warmup event before the U.S. Open, which begins in New York on Aug. 29. Spain and Serbia also play Canada and South Korea in Valencia, one of four European cities hosting the group stage Sept. 13-18. The other cities are Bologna, Hamburg and Glasgow.