TheSportsCampus

The draw for the 2013 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group was held on Wednesday at the offices of title sponsor BNP Paribas in London. The Canadian Davis Cup team will play a home tie versus Spain from February 1-3, 2013 in the first round of the World Group.

"Spain is a tough team, but when you are in an elite group of 16 countries every team is going to be tough," said Canada's captain Martin Laurendeau. "We want to be the first Canadian team to ever win a World Group tie and we will continue to work towards that for February. We get to host them in Canada, in front of our home crowd and we will use that to our advantage and are really looking forward to this opportunity."

Spain is the seeded team and is the top-ranked Davis Cup team in the world. They are the current defending Davis Cup champions and, this past weekend reached their second consecutive Davis Cup final where they will take on Czech Republic to try and retain the title. In the past 12 years, Spain has captured the Davis Cup trophy five times (2000, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011).

The only other time the two countries have met in Davis Cup action was in 1991 when Spain defeated Canada 4-1 in the World Group first round. That tie was hosted in Murcia, Spain, which means that Canada was awarded the choice of ground for this upcoming tie. Given the growing demand to host Davis Cup in Canada, a city bid process will be initiated to help determine a venue for February's tie.

Canada, currently ranked No. 12 on the Davis Cup rankings, maintained their spot in the World Group with a 4-1 victory over South Africa in the World Group play-offs held in Montreal last weekend. This was after a 4-1 defeat to France in the World Group first round last February. It is the first time since 1991-'92 that Canada has been in the World Group in consecutive years.

The winner of this tie in February will move on to the World Group quarter-finals and will also be assured to keep their spot in the World Group for the following year. The losing nation will be forced to play a World Group play-off tie to keep their spot in the elite level for 2014.

Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is the largest annual international team competition in sport with more than 120 nations competing. Only 16 countries entered in Davis Cup competition qualify for the World Group each year.