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Reigning Davis Cup Champions Name Squad For 2008 Semifinals Against Spain in Madrid, September 19-21

FLUSHING, N.Y., September 4, 2008 — The USTA and U.S. Davis Cup Captain Patrick McEnroe today announced that the defending Davis Cup champions have named world No. 8 Andy Roddick, No. 9 James Blake and the top ranked doubles team in the world, Bob and Mike Bryan, to represent the U.S. in the 2008 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas semifinal. The U.S. will face Spain on a temporary outdoor red clay court constructed in Madrid’s Plaza de Toros Las Ventas (a bull ring with a capacity of 21,000), September 19-21.

The United States began the defense of its record 32nd Davis Cup title with a 4-1 win over Austria on an indoor red clay court in Vienna, in February, then beat France 4-1 in the quarterfinal on an indoor hard court in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Should the United States defeat Spain, the U.S. would travel to Russia or Argentina for the Davis Cup Final, November 21-23. Argentina hosts Russia in the other semifinal.

Versus and Tennis Channel will air same-day coverage of all three days of competition. Versus will broadcast each day at 12 noon ET. Tennis Channel will re-air coverage at 8 p.m.

The opening day of play in the best-of-five match series features each country’s No. 1 singles player against the No. 2 player from the other country. The pivotal doubles match is played Saturday, followed by Sunday’s “reverse singles,” starting with each country’s No. 1 player squaring off followed by the No. 2 players in the fifth-and-final match.

“Winning the title last year has taken a lot of pressure off of these guys,” said U.S. Davis Cup Captain Patrick McEnroe, who has led the U.S. to a 15-6 record and two finals since taking over as captain in 2001. “It promises to be a memorable event, facing probably the greatest clay court player of all-time (world No. 1 Rafael Nadal) on red clay in a Spanish bull ring filled with more than 20,000 fans.”
This is the eleventh straight time that U.S. Davis Cup Captain McEnroe has used this lineup — a record for the U.S. Davis Cup team — dating back to the 2005 World Group Play-off in Belgium. The previous U.S. record was three consecutive ties, held by eight different teams.
The United States and Spain will meet for the eighth time in their history and for the fifth time since 2000. The United States is 5-3 against Spain, winning the last meeting in the 2007 World Group Quarterfinal at Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C. The two teams have alternated wins and losses in each of the last five meetings.

Roddick, 26, is currently enjoying a career-best nine-match winning streak in Davis Cup and has a 29-9 record since joining the team in 2001, which places him third all-time in singles victories for the U.S. Davis Cup team. Last year, he went undefeated (6-0) to lead the U.S. to its first Davis Cup title since 1995. He has been the No. 1 player for the United States in all but two appearances — his debut at the 2001 Davis Cup First Round at Switzerland and the 2002 Davis Cup First Round win over the Slovak Republic (behind Pete Sampras) in Oklahoma City.

Blake, 28, has a 20-9 overall record in Davis Cup (17-8 in singles, 3-1 in doubles), having represented the United States in 15 ties over the past seven years. Blake turned professional after completing his sophomore season at Harvard as the No. 1 player in college tennis. In 2001, he became the first former Harvard student to represent the U.S. in Davis Cup in 75 years. Dwight Davis, a senior at Harvard, founded the Davis Cup competition in 1900.

Bob Bryan, 30, half of the world top-ranked doubles team, holds a 14-2 record in Davis Cup doubles with twin brother Mike and is 3-2 in singles. The duo is tied for first all-time in U.S. Davis Cup history with 14 doubles wins as a team. The Bryan brothers have won 48 doubles titles together and are the most successful sibling doubles team in the Open Era. Bob also won the US Open mixed doubles titles with three different partners: Katarina Srebotnik (2003), Vera Zvonareva (2004) and Martina Navratilova (2006).

Mike Bryan, 30, has played every doubles match for the U.S. Davis Cup team since he and his twin brother, Bob, joined the team in September 2003. They are the only brothers to pair in victory for the United States Davis Cup team. Together, they ended 2007 as the No. 1 doubles team in the world for the fourth time in five years. The duo recently captured the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing. Mike has 50 career ATP doubles titles and won the 2002 US Open and 2003 French Open mixed doubles titles with Lisa Raymond.

Founded in 1900, Davis Cup is the world’s largest annual international men’s team competition with 127 nations competing this year. The U.S. leads all nations with 32 Davis Cup titles.

AIG is the official sponsor of the U.S. Davis Cup team. Wilson is the official ball of the U.S. Davis Cup team.

Posted on September 10, 2008
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