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U.S. Begins Chase for 2010 Davis Cup

March 4, 2010

LOS ANGELES — Tennis Channel will provide exclusive coverage of the U.S. Davis Cup team’s first-round competition against Serbia in Belgrade this weekend, with comprehensive live and primetime telecasts this weekend. The meeting will consist of two singles matches on Friday, March 5, at 10 a.m. ET, followed by the doubles match Saturday, March 6, at 8 a.m. ET. Tennis Channel’s coverage concludes with the remaining singles play Sunday, March 7, at 9 a.m. ET. Each of the five matches is worth one point, with the team that wins at least three points advancing to the quarterfinals to face either Croatia or Ecuador in the quarterfinals July 9-11. Each evening at 7 p.m. ET Tennis Channel will offer an encore presentation of the day’s Davis Cup action.

Coverage from Beogradska Arena in Belgrade is as follows (all times ET):

Friday, March 5:

Saturday, March 6:

Sunday, March 7:

The United States and Serbia have never faced each other in Davis Cup play. Last year the American squad defeated Switzerland 4-1 in the first-round, but lost against Croatia, failing to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2005. In 2007 the U.S. team won its 32nd Davis Cup title with a 4-1 win against Russia.

Three-time Davis Cup team member and Davis Cup captain since 2000, Patrick McEnroe returns to the helm of America’s national tennis team. Davis Cup newcomer John Isner is playing the best tennis of his professional career and was dubbed most improved player in 2009 by the ATP, the governing body of men’s tennis. He defeated Any Roddick on his way to the fourth round at last year’s US Open, won his first ATP World Tour title in Auckland, New Zealand, in January, and became the second ranked American singles player when he reached the fourth round at the 2010 Australian Open. Sam Querrey, World No. 22, will be making his second Davis Cup appearance this weekend after winning his second singles title at the LA Open and winning his first ATP World Tour doubles title in San Jose, Calif., at the SAP Open with Mardy Fish. The world’s top-ranked doubles players, twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan, continue to be the world’s most dominate pair, capturing their eighth Grand Slam doubles title at the 2010 Australian Open.

Unlike the United States, Serbia has a relatively short Davis Cup history, competing as Serbia & Montenegro from 2004-2006 and Yugoslavia from 1927-2003. Last year Serbia lost to Spain 4-1 in the first round. Serbia is captained by Bogdan Obradovic and features World No. 2 Novak Djokovic, Nenad Zimonjic, Janko Tipsarevic, and Viktor Troicki.

Tennis Channel (tennischannel.com) is the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle. A hybrid of comprehensive sports, health, fitness, pop culture, entertainment, lifestyle and travel programming, the network is home to every aspect of the wide-ranging, worldwide tennis community. It also has the most concentrated single-sport coverage in television, with telecast rights to the US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open), Australian Open, Olympus US Open Series, ATP Masters Series, top-tier Sony Ericsson WTA Tour championship competitions, Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, and Hyundai Hopman Cup. Tennis Channel is carried by nine of the top 10 MSOs, Verizon FiOS TV, and has a national footprint via DIRECTV and DISH Network.