The USTA announced that Davis Cup tennis, the world’s largest annual international team competition in men’s sport, will return to Hawaii for the first time in 28 years, as the United States Davis Cup Team will take on Uzbekistan in a 2020 Davis Cup Qualifying competition at the Blaisdell Center March 6-7 in Honolulu.
Davis Cup’s return to Hawaii in 2020 comes as part of multi-year agreement made by Hawaii Tourism Authority to be the lead local sponsor of any Davis Cup Qualifying ties hosted by the United States between 2020-22. Therefore, should the U.S. host a Davis Cup Qualifier in February or March of 2021 or 2022, that event will also be played in Hawaii.
Davis Cup is the World Cup of Tennis, and the U.S. is its most successful nation, with 32 titles. The competition dates back to 1900, and Hall of Famers such as Arthur Ashe, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Andy Roddick have represented U.S. in Davis Cup over the years. Last year marked the beginning of a new era in Davis Cup competition, with a new-look, one-week Finals in Madrid, which featured the youngest U.S. team in 10 years, with rising talents Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka and Frances Tiafoe suiting up for the Red, White and Blue under first-year captain and former world No. 7 Mardy Fish.
The Qualifying competition vs. Uzbekistan is a best-of-five match series played over two days, with each country bringing a team of four or five players. The ‘tie,’ as it’s called, begins Friday, March 6, with two singles matches between each country’s No. 1- and No. 2-nominated players. The doubles match and two reverse singles matches, between each country’s No. 1s and each country’s No. 2s, will follow on Saturday, March 7.
“It’s truly a privilege to bring Davis Cup back to Hawaii, and we’re grateful for Hawaii Tourism Authority’s multi-year commitment,” said USTA Chairman of the Board and President Patrick Galbraith. “A storied competition like Davis Cup and a backdrop as stunning as Honolulu will make for a remarkable competition, and we’re looking forward to a weeklong celebration of the tennis in the Aloha State.”
Matches will be played indoors at the Blaisdell Center on a temporary hard court, with an amended schedule possible for Saturday should one nation clinch victory in the third or fourth match. The winner of this matchup advances to the 2020 Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals in November in Madrid to compete for the world championship. This will be the second year of this new format for the Finals – similar to the World Cup, in which 18 nations converge on one venue to compete for the title. The inaugural Davis Cup Madrid Finals this past November welcomed more than 133,000 fans and was televised in 171 countries.
Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday, January 17, and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com. Two-day ticket packages for both Friday and Saturday – the best initial ticket value – will be sold at prices ranging from $90 to $500, or $45 to $250 per day. Single-day tickets for Friday or Saturday will be sold with prices ranging from $55 to $260 per day. Visit usta.com/daviscup for more information.
USTA members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets in advance through an exclusive presale today through Thursday, or while supplies last.
United States international team events have had demonstrative effects on the local communities they’ve visited in recent years. The U.S. hosted the women’s Fed Cup in Asheville, N.C., in 2018, an event that generated nearly $5 million in economic impact for the region and prompted Asheville to host Fed Cup again in 2019. San Antonio hosted a Fed Cup tie in April 2019, with an estimated economic impact of $3.5 million.
The U.S. has only played Davis Cup in Hawaii once, a victory over Argentina in the 1992 First Round at Mauna Lani Racquet Club on Kohala Coast. The U.S. Fed Cup Team has played in Hawaii twice in recent years, in 2016 at Kailua Kona and in 2017 in Maui.
“We are delighted to host Davis Cup in Hawaii after hosting the Fed Cup in 2016 and 2017,” said USTA Hawaii Pacific Executive Director Ron Romano. “It is a great way for us to support the U.S. Davis Cup Team and promote tennis in our local community.”
The USTA and local organizers also engage hundreds of kids from the area with tennis programming in what ultimately amounts to a weeklong celebration of the sport.
The players representing both teams will be named no later than 10 days before the start of the competition.
The U.S. vs. Uzbekistan is one of 12 Qualifying competitions being played throughout the world March 6-7. The 12 winners will go on to play in the November Finals in Madrid, while the 12 losers will go on to play in World Group 1 competitions in September. The next year’s Qualifying field is then made up of the 12 World Group 1 winners in September and the 12 teams who do not make the semifinals in Madrid or get chosen as the two wild card nations for the next year’s Finals.
The U.S. holds an overall 219-74 record in Davis Cup competition and last won the title in 2007. For more information, including access to player and historical Davis Cup records, please go to www.usta.com/daviscup or www.daviscup.com.
Those interested in volunteering for the event can inquire by sending an email to HawaiiDC2020@gmail.com.
Keep up with Team USA using hashtag #TeamUSATennis on Facebook (@USTA), on Twitter (@USTA), and on Instagram (@USTA). Wilson is the official ball of the U.S. Davis Cup team. Deloitte is the official team sponsor of the U.S. Davis Cup Team.
The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level — from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with more than 655,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, one of the highest-attended annual sporting events in the world, and launched the US Open Series, linking eight summer WTA and ATP World Tour tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 90 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships in addition to supporting tennis and education programs nationwide to benefit under-resourced youth through the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network.For more information about the USTA, go to USTA.com or follow the official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.
