Del Potro a doubt for favourites Argentina.

Byline: Dylan Hill

ONLY Bet365 have priced up the World Team Cup, which bills itself as a serious competition to rival the Davis Cup yet is often closer to a friendly knock-up with the French Open looming.

The usual doubts about which team will be taking the event most seriously are compounded by questions over the participation of 13-8 favourites Argentina's top player Juan Martin Del Potro, who was due to play Roger Federer in the Madrid semi-finals last night. His side's opening rubber against Serbia is scheduled to take place over the next two days.

But for that it's hard to argue with Argentina's status as warm jollies. They have been one of the dominant forces in team tennis in recent years, and even though the World Team Cup would rank some way below the Davis Cup on their agenda, it's still significant that they have won the title and been beaten finalists in the last four years, a record matched only by hosts Germany.

Juan Monaco could be a useful foil for Del Potro as he is hitting form again after a poor year and has no qualms about giving everything the week before a Grand Slam, as he has shown by reaching the final in Portschach in each of the last two years.

Maximo Gonzalez is no mug either, but it's impossible to back them given the possibility they will have to take on Serbia alone and the underdogs have a top doubles player in Nenad Zimonjic up their sleeve.

That said, opposing Argentina doesn't make a great deal of appeal either as they still have the talent to come through the weaker of the two groups.

It's hard to see Italy challenging having named just two players in their squad, while Russia's Dmitry Tursunov may not be much help to Igor Andreev.

And Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki both have a tendency to get blown away in sets which could rescue Argentina if the group comes down to game difference.

The red group looks far tougher to call. France have the strongest squad on paper with two top-ten players in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon, but hosts Germany are always a tough nut to crack in this competition and don't rule out a repeat win for Sweden.

The holders have made a good THE LOWDOWN ARAG World Team Cup Prize money EUR1.5m Surface Outdoor red clay When to bet Starts 11am today Weather forecast Good chance of rain today and tomorrow, clearing up in midweek but returning at the weekend Time difference Dusseldorf is one hour ahead of the UK