Great Britain have only a 33 per cent chance of receiving a home tie in Wednesday’s 2018 Davis Cup draw.
As expected, Leon Smith’s side were among the seeds when the seedings were announced on Monday and they will now be drawn against one of the eight non-seeds later in the week.
Canada, Germany and Kazakhstan are the teams they could face on home soil in round one but much tougher away ties potentially lie in store.
Spain will be one they want to avoid, while USA would also be unwanted, although GB did beat the Americans in both the 2014 and 2015 competitions.
Trips to Hungary, Japan, the Netherlands and Kazakhstan could also await. The venue for any tie with the Kazakhs, who relegated reigning champions Argentina from the World Group at the weekend, will be decided by lot.
The venues of other ties are determined by a competition rule which says the previous meeting of the nations is reversed.
Kazakhstan at home would look the ideal draw for the 2015 champions, who this year were without Andy Murray and were defeated in the quarter-finals by France.
The French have since set up a final meeting with Belgium for which they are 2/9 favourites. Belgium are 100/30 outsiders for a tie which will take place in France.
Canada boast world number 11 Milos Raonic and rising star Denis Shapovalov among their number, while Germany can call upon another young star of the game, Alex Zverev, not to mention the likes of his brother Mischa and Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Spain, who recently axed Conchita Martinez as their captain, will be among the favourites if they can convince their star names such as French and US Open champion Rafael Nadal to play.
Hungary, who shocked Russia at the weekend, and Netherlands, who came from 2-0 down to beat the Czech Republic, would both be seen a decent draw for GB, although both would likely opt to play the February 2-4 tie on clay.
A new rule will be in force when the draw is made with this year’s two finalists guaranteed a home tie in the first round.
The draw for the World Group of the 2018 Fed Cup will also take place on Wednesday at 1500 BST.
However, Great Britain, who remain in the Europe-Africa Zone, will have to wait until later in the year to discover their 2018 opponents.
2018 Davis Cup World Group draw seedings
Seeds
France
Belgium
Great Britain
Croatia
Switzerland
Australia
Serbia
Italy
Non-seeds
Canada
Germany
Hungary
Japan
Kazakhstan
Netherlands
Spain
USA
2018 Fed Cup World Group draw seedings
Seeds
Belarus
USA
Czech Republic
France
Non-seeds
Belgium
Germany
Netherlands
Switzerland
