Isner, Sock and Bryan Brothers to Represent U.S. in Davis Cup Play Against Croatia
The USTA and U.S. Davis Cup Captain Jim Courier have announced that top-ranked American and world number 17 John Isner, world number 26 Jack Sock and 16-time Grand Slam Doubles Champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan will represent the U.S. in the 2016 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Quarterfinal against Croatia. The best-of-five match series will be played on a temporary outdoor hard court at the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center, July 15-17, in Portland, Ore.
Croatia’s Davis Cup Captain Zeljko Krajan nominated number 13 and 2014 U.S. Open Champion Marin Cilic, number 50 Borna Coric, Ivan Dodig, who is ranked 15th in doubles, and Marin Draganja, who is a former Top 20 doubles player, to his team.
Play begins at 11:30 a.m. PT on Friday, July 15, and Sunday, July 17. Play begins on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. PT. Friday will include two singles matches featuring each country’s number one player against the other country’s number two player. Saturday’s schedule features the pivotal doubles match. And the final day of play on Sunday features the two “reverse singles” matches, when the number one players square off, followed by the number two players meeting each other in the final match. All matches are best-of-five sets until one nation clinches the tie. A revised schedule for Sunday may take place if a team clinches in the third or fourth match.
Croatia holds a 3-0 record over the United States in Davis Cup, one of only three countries that hold a winning record over the U.S. The U.S. last faced Croatia in the 2009 World Group Quarterfinal and also faced them in 2003 and 2005. This will be the United States’ first home tie since 2014. The U.S. is 111-18 all-time in Davis Cup ties played at home.
The winner of this match advances to the World Group Semifinal, held September 16-18, for a chance to compete for the 2016 Davis Cup title.
Isner, 31, will be competing in his 12th Davis Cup tie; he is 10-9 in singles and 2-0 in doubles. His last Davis Cup appearance came this year in the first round in Melbourne, Australia, where Isner won both of his singles matches. His biggest Davis Cup victory came in 2012, when he defeated Roger Federer in the U.S. Davis Cup team’s first-round win at Switzerland. The tallest player in U.S. Davis Cup history, at 6-foot-10, Isner made his Davis Cup debut in the 2010 World Group First Round in Serbia, where he became the first U.S. player since 2003 to compete in three live rubbers in the same tie. He also represented the U.S. in the 2012 London Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals before losing to Federer. Isner turned pro after an outstanding four-year career at the University of Georgia, leading the Bulldogs to the 2007 NCAA team title as a senior. He holds 10 career tour singles titles, the last of which came in Atlanta during the 2015 Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series. So far this year, he has reached the fourth round of the Australian Open and the French Open and the semifinals of the ATP clay-court event in Houston.
Sock made his Davis Cup debut in September 2015 in the World Group Playoff in Uzbekistan, where he won both of his singles matches to keep the U.S. Davis Cup team in the World Group for this year. Sock also competed in the Davis Cup first round this March in Australia. He reached the final of the ATP events in Auckland and Houston earlier this year and won his first ATP singles title in 2015 in Houston. Sock has also thrived in doubles, winning the 2014 Wimbledon doubles title and the 2015 Indian Wells crown with Vasek Pospisil and peaking at a career-high sixth in the individual doubles rankings in May 2015; he also reached the doubles quarterfinals of the 2015 French Open and 2016 Australian Open. In 2011, Sock won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title with fellow American Melanie Oudin.
Bob and Mike Bryan, both 38, hold a 24-4 doubles record together in U.S. Davis Cup competition; the 24 wins are first all-time in U.S. Davis Cup history for a tandem. Bob and Mike, the only brothers to pair in victory for the U.S. Davis Cup team, hold the all-time Open era record of most Grand Slam men’s doubles titles (16) and ATP doubles titles (112). In addition, the Bryan brothers won the gold medal in doubles at the 2012 Olympics in London, where they completed a career Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal. The Bryans ended 2014 as the top-ranked doubles team in the world for a record 10th time in 12 years.
Overall, Bob holds a 25-4 doubles record in Davis Cup competition; he is also 4-2 in singles (all dead rubbers). Mike holds a 26-4 record in Davis Cup doubles matches, playing without Bob just twice in his Davis Cup career. Bob did not compete in the 2012 first-round match at Switzerland due to the birth of his daughter, Micaela; in that case, Mike teamed with Mardy Fish to defeat 2008 Olympic doubles gold medalists Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka to clinch the tie. Mike also partnered with Fish in the 2008 semifinal against Spain. Bob played without Mike (food poisoning) in the 2010 first round in Serbia, partnering instead with Fish.
Additionally, U.S. Captain Jim Courier announced the practice partners for the U.S. Davis Cup team—former junior standout Tommy Paul and University of Illinois alum Jared Hiltzik. Paul, 19, won the 2015 French Open junior singles title, becoming the sixth American ever to win the title, and also reached the final of the junior U.S. Open in 2015. He peaked at a career-high third in the ITF World Junior Rankings in fall 2015. As a pro, Paul captured his first career USTA Pro Circuit singles at the $10,000 Futures events in Plantation, Fla., and Sunrise, Fla., this year. Hiltzik, 21, graduated this year from the University of Illinois, where he earned three All-America honors—one of three players in program history to ever do so—and finished his collegiate career as the eighth-winningest singles player in program history with 115 wins. He also reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament as a junior in 2014. Hiltzik won his first USTA Pro Circuit doubles title this year at the Collegiate Series event in Winston-Salem, N.C., and reached his first USTA Pro Circuit singles final last year at the $15,000 Futures in Godfrey, Ill.
