Hall of Fame Captain Jim Courier Leads Americans John Isner, Jack Sock, Steve Johnson and Sam Querry as Tournament Begins
Tennis Channel, Tennis Channel Plus to cover six Davis Cup Matchups Thursday through Sunday
Tennis Channel will provide complete live coverage of the U.S. Davis Cup team’s first-round competition against Switzerland in Birmingham, Ala., this weekend, with the first match underway Friday, Feb. 3, at 4 p.m. ET. Hall of Fame Captain (and Tennis Channel analyst) Jim Courier will lead the four highest-ranked American men’s singles players – John Isner, Jack Sock, Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey – into battle this weekend.
The meeting will consist of two singles matches on Friday, followed by the doubles match Saturday, Feb. 4, at 3 p.m. ET. Tennis Channel’s coverage concludes with the remaining singles play Sunday, Feb. 5, at 12 p.m. ET. Each match is worth one point, with three victories enough to secure a trip to the April quarterfinals to play the winner of this weekend’s Australia and Czech Republic competition.
The match-up is one of six carried live in their entirety on Tennis Channel and Tennis Channel Plus this weekend. Beginning Thursday, Feb. 2, television and digital subscribers will be able to watch Davis Cup action between: United States-Switzerland (Birmingham) Australia-Czech Republic (Melbourne, Australia), Japan-France (Tokyo), Croatia-Spain (Osijek, Croatia), Serbia-Russia (Nis, Serbia) and Canada-Britain (Ottawa, Canada). The network will offer live look-ins at the Australia-Czech Republic and Croatia-Spain competitions. Viewers can also catch Davis Cup matches on-demand on Tennis Channel Plus, the digital subscription service available to everyone in the United States, regardless of whether they currently subscribe to the television network. Among the stars set to play Davis Cup this weekend are Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, France’s Richard Gasquet, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios and Britain’s Jamie Murray.
Tennis Channel’s Los Angeles studio will again be the central hub for Davis Cup competition this weekend.Steve Weissman (@Steve_Weissman) will handle play-by-play responsibilities during Australia-Czech Republic play on Thursday, Feb. 2, alongside Hall of Famer Tracy Austin (@thetracyaustin) and renowned coach Paul Annacone (@Paul_Annacone).Paul Annacone and Leif Shiras (@LShirock) on the network’s team Friday-Sunday. Meanwhile, award-winning sportscaster Ted Robinson (@tedjrobinson) will be in Birmingham to call the United States-Switzerland match alongside former U.S. Davis Cup player James Blake (@JRBlake). Blake was a contributing member of the U.S. team’s 2007 championship.
The United States holds a 3-1 advantage over Switzerland. The most recent meeting between the two nations was in 2012, when the United States beat Switzerland 5-0 in Fribourg, Switzerland. The Swiss team’s sole victory over the Americans came in 2001. However, Switzerland will be without newly crowned Australian Open champion and former World No. 1 Roger Federer, who in 2001 led the team to a 3-2 triumph over the Americans in Basel, Switzerland. The United States, which leads all nations in Davis Cup titles, has clinched the trophy on 32 occasions, the most recent in 2007.
As a player, U.S. Davis Cup captain Jim Courier was on the 1992 team that beat Switzerland 3-1 to win the Davis Cup championship. For the 2017 edition, Isner holds 10 career singles titles and recently advanced to the finals at the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris in November before falling to World No. 1 Andy Murray. Sock started off the year by winning his second title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, and comes into this weekend after an impressive third-round appearance at the Australian Open. Last year, Johnson captured his first ATP singles title at the Nottingham Open in England, and had his best performance at a Grand Slam in the fourth round at Wimbledon before falling to Federer. Querrey teamed up with Johnson at the Geneva Open in Geneva, Switzerland, to win their first doubles title as a pair in May, and enters this weekend’s match-up after falling to Murray in the third round at this year’s the Australian Open.
The Swiss team won the Davis Cup title for the first time in 2014 with the help of Federer and current World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka. This year’s team is captained by retired tennis player Severin Luthi and features Marco Chiudinelli, Henri Laaksonen, Adrien Bossel and Antoine Bellier.
Tennis Channel’s live Davis Cup coverage is as follows (all times ET):
Thursday, Feb 2:
7 p.m. – Singles Australia v. Czech Republic
9 p.m. – Singles Japan v. France (Tennis Channel Plus)
Friday, Feb. 3:
9 a.m. – Singles Croatia v. Spain/Singles Serbia v. Russia (Tennis Channel Plus)
3 p.m. – Singles Canada v. Britain (Tennis Channel Plus)
4 p.m. – Singles United States v. Switzerland
8 p.m. – Doubles Australia v. Czech Republic
10 p.m. – Doubles Japan v. France (Tennis Channel Plus)
Saturday, Feb. 4:
10 a.m. – Doubles Croatia v. Spain/Doubles Serbia v. Russia (Tennis Channel Plus)
1 p.m. – Doubles Canada v. Britain (Tennis Channel Plus)
3 p.m. – Doubles United States v. Switzerland
7 p.m. – Singles Australia v. Czech Republic
9 p.m. – Singles Japan v. France (Tennis Channel Plus)
Sunday, Feb. 5:
8 a.m. – Singles Serbia v. Russia (Tennis Channel Plus)
9 a.m. – Singles Croatia v. Spain
12 p.m. – Singles United States v. Switzerland/Singles Canada v. Britain (Tennis Channel Plus)
Topics: 10sballs.com, Davis Cup, Tennis Channel, Tennis News