Hamburg, Germany, 11 September 2012 | Darren Pearce

You know it feels like the right place to be when you step in the hotel lift and good old Peter Garrett is belting out one of the Oils hits on the in-house music.

It almost feels like déjà vu.

Understandable really. The Aussies have been “here” in 2007 against Serbia, 2008 against Chile, 2010 against Belgium and last year against Switzerland.

“Here” is World Group Play-off territory. Four times they have been on the verge of returning to the elite of Davis Cup and four times they have been denied –twice after leading 2-1 on the Saturday night.

This week, “here” is Hamburg, Germany.

A city of around 1.8 million that has a long tennis history.

The walls of the Hamburg stadium are decorated with artist sketches of previous winners of big tournaments here – among them Laver, Newcombe, Rose and Australian Davis Cup coach Tony Roche.

Yet despite its rich tennis history, the city’s favourite son and the one player Germans love the most, Tommy Haas, is not in the German line up (unless the locals pull off a stunning last minute selection on the eve of Thursday’s Official Draw).

Still, the task confronting the Aussies is far from easy. They take on a team with two top-20 players on a slow clay surface in what is expected to be cold and blustery conditions.

So while on rankings they go in as underdogs, they do have something pretty important in their favour – they are intensely motivated not to endure World Group Playoff déjà vu.