Isner, Querrey and Bryan Brothers Named to U.S. Davis Cup Team
The USTA and U.S. Davis Cup Captain Jim Courier have jointly announced that world number 10 John Isner, number 28 Sam Querrey, and 2012 Olympic Men’s Doubles Gold Medalists Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan will represent the United States in the 2012 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Semifinal tie against Spain, Sept. 14-16. The tie will be played on an outdoor red clay court at the Parque Hermanos Castro in Gijon, Spain. Courier also announced that two-time NCAA singles champion Steve Johnson, former U.S. Open boys’ singles finalist Denis Kudla and 2011 NCAA doubles champion Austin Krajicek will be practice partners for the team. All three have served as practice partners before. Matches will be telecast live on Tennis Channel starting at 6:00 a.m. ET on Friday, 8:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, and 6:00 a.m. ET on Sunday. USTA.com will also feature live streaming of all Davis Cup matches in the United States for free.
Spain, the defending Davis Cup champion, has announced their roster of number five David Ferrer, number 12 Nicolas Almagro, number 24 Marcel Granollers, and top 10 doubles player Marc Lopez. Spain has won the Davis Cup title three out of the last four years (2008, 2009 and 2011).
“Our team is battle-tested after two tough road wins this year against Switzerland and France," said second-year U.S. Davis Cup Captain Courier, who has a 3-0 record on the road. "Playing against Spain on clay is the ultimate test in Davis Cup and we look forward to the challenge in Gijon."
The opening day of play in the best-of-five match series features each country’s number one singles player against the number two player from the opposing country. The pivotal doubles match is played Saturday, followed by Sunday’s “reverse singles,” starting with each country’s number one players squaring off followed by the number two players in the fifth and final match.
This semifinal tie will mark the 11th matchup overall between the U.S. and Spain in Davis Cup competition. The countries are tied in their series with five wins each with the last meeting taking place in the 2011 World Group Quarterfinal in Austin, Texas (Spain won that tie, 3-1). The Spaniards last defeated the U.S. in Spain in the 2008 World Group Semifinal on clay, where Spain later went on to win the Davis Cup title that year. The winner of this match will face the winner of the semifinal between the Czech Republic and Argentina. If the U.S. wins, it will either travel to Argentina or host the Czech Republic in the final, November 16-18.
Founded in 1900, Davis Cup is the world’s largest annual international men’s team competition with 125 nations competing this year. The U.S. leads all nations with 32 Davis Cup titles.
