U.S. Davis Cup Heavy Favorite vs. Serbia in 1st Round Next Week

The U.S. Davis Cup camp last year when they defeated Australia in Melbourne

The U.S. will have the ranked-player advantage when it travels to Serbia following the Australian Open to face a Novak Djokovic-less Serbian squad in the first round of the 2018 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group on indoor red clay at the Sportski Centar Cair in Nis, Serbia, on Feb. 2-4.

U.S. Davis Cup Captain Jim Courier today announced that world No. 13 Sam Querrey, No. 16 John Isner, No. 45 Ryan Harrison and No. 48 Steve Johnson will represent the U.S. On the Serbian side Captain Nenad Zimonjic nominated world No. 75 Dusan Lajovic, No. 85 Laslo Djere, No. 176 Nikola Milojevic, No. 232 Pedja Krstin and No. 297 Miljan Zekic to his team.

The Serbs will be without Djokovic, who is rehabilitating an elbow injury. Also absent from the Serb squad are No. 36 Filip Krajinovic and No. 65 Viktor Troicki. The U.S. will also be without their top player, No. 9-ranked Jack Sock.

Play begins at 3 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET) on Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET) on Sunday. Tennis Channel will air each match live in the U.S.

The winner of the tie advances to the World Group quarterfinals on April 6-8 versus either Belgium or Hungary.

The U.S. is 0-2 all-time versus Serbia, losing in the 2013 quarterfinals and the first round in 2010 when Djokovic led both Serbian squads to victory.

Querrey is currently at a career-high No. 13 ranking at 30 years old, and is 7-9 in Davis Cup singles play for the U.S. The 32-year-old Isner is 13-11 in singles. Additionally, 21-year old Deiton Baughman of Carson, Calif., will serve as the team’s practice partner in Nis.

The U.S. leads all nations with 32 Davis Cup titles, and holds a 217-71 all-time Davis Cup record, boasting the longest uninterrupted run in the World Group dating to 1989.

For more info go to www.usta.com/daviscup or www.daviscup.com.