Davis Cup Tickets

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., January 7, 2009 – The USTA announced today that tickets for the 2009 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas first round tie between the United States and Switzerland at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Arena in Birmingham, Ala., March 6-8, will go on sale starting Friday, Jan. 16 at 12 p.m. CST. Tickets are sold as a three-day series with prices ranging from $60 to $500. Tickets can be purchased by calling (888) 484-8782 (USTA) or online by visiting USTA.com or ticketmaster.com.

The competition is expected to feature three of the top 10 players in the world. No. 8 Andy Roddick and No. 10 James Blake have been mainstays on the U.S. Davis Cup team along with the world’s second-ranked doubles team, Bob and Mike Bryan. World No. 2 and five-time reigning US Open Champion Roger Federer has announced his intention to play in the first round of Davis Cup for the first time since 2004, and is expected to be joined by No. 13 Stanislas Wawrinka, with whom he won the Olympic gold medal in men’s doubles this past summer in Beijing.

The best-of-five match series begins Friday, March 6, with two singles matches, featuring each country’s No. 1 player against the other country’s No. 2 player. Saturday’s schedule features the pivotal doubles match. The final day of play on Sunday will feature two “reverse singles” matches, when the No. 1 players square off followed by the No. 2 players meeting each other in the final match.

This will be the first Davis Cup tie ever played in Alabama, making it the 33rd state to host the prestigious competition. It also will be the first major professional tennis event in Birmingham since the city hosted the 1994 U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships.

The United States and Switzerland have split their two previous meetings in Davis Cup. Switzerland won the last meeting in the 2001 first round in Patrick McEnroe’s debut as U.S. Davis Cup Captain and Roddick’s Davis Cup debut. The Swiss were led by relative unknown Federer who won both his singles matches and the doubles point.

Founded in 1900, Davis Cup is the world’s largest annual international team competition. The USTA organizes, stages and promotes all Davis Cup events in the U.S. Wilson is the official ball of the U.S. Davis Cup team.