U.S. to Play Brazil in Jacksonville in Opening Round Davis Cup Play
The USTA and U.S. Davis Cup Captain Jim Courier have announced that Jacksonville, Fla. has been selected as the site for the 2013 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas first-round match between the United States and Brazil, set for Feb. 1-3 at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, which will have an expected capacity of approximately 13,000. The event is being organized, staged and promoted by the USTA.
“There is nothing like playing Davis Cup in your home country and Jacksonville will be a great venue when we host Brazil next year,” said Courier who led the United States to the semifinals this year in his second season as U.S. Davis Cup Captain. “We were very happy to draw a home match. This could be a great opportunity for players like John (Isner), Sam (Querrey) and Ryan (Harrison) to experience a home court advantage for the first time in their Davis Cup careers.”
This will be just the second home match as U.S. Davis Cup Captain for Florida native Courier. The U.S. played all three of its matches on the road this year posting wins over Roger Federer’s Swiss team and France before losing to Spain in the semifinals. The matchup with Brazil will be the first home tie for the U.S. since the 2011 quarterfinals in Austin, Texas, and just the third home tie for the U.S. since 2009. In that time, the U.S. team has played seven road matches, all on clay.
The best-of-five match series begins Friday, Feb. 1, with 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 includes two “reverse singles” matches, where the number one players square off followed by the number two players going head-to-head. All matches are best-of-five sets until one country wins three matches.
“Hosting the Davis Cup competition represents a great opportunity for our city to receive the global attention it deserves,” said Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown. “The word is getting out: Jacksonville is a premier city for major sporting events. Our selection emerged from a highly-competitive process and it goes to show that we have the staff, facilities and experience to create a marquee experience to delight the thousands of fans headed our
way.”
This match will mark the fifth meeting between the U.S. and Brazil in Davis Cup. The U.S. leads the overall series 3-1 with its last victory against Brazil coming in the 1997 first round in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil when Courier and MaliVai Washington led the U.S. to a 4-1 win. The U.S. is 109-16 all-time in Davis Cup ties played at home and undefeated in Florida (6-0). This will be the seventh Davis Cup tie played in the state of Florida and first since the U.S. defeated Sweden, 4-1, in the 2004 quarterfinal at the Delray Beach Tennis Center.
Tennis Channel will present live daily coverage of the U.S. vs. Brazil Davis Cup match. The site selection is subject to final approval by the International Tennis Federation. The winner of the United States and Brazil will face either Serbia or Belgium in the quarterfinals, April 5-7. Should the U.S. advance, they would host the quarterfinal match.
