U.S. faces Croatia in Davis Cup

LONDON (AP) -- The United States will play at Croatia in the opening round of next year's Davis Cup.

The U.S. team, which lost 3-2 to defending champion France in the Davis Cup semifinal last month, drew Croatia for its first-round match, scheduled for Feb. 7-9.

France, which will face Russia on Nov. 29-Dec. 1 in this year's final, will play at Romania in the opening round next year.

The other pairings from Thursday's draw with the home team listed first:

Romania vs. France; Netherlands vs. Switzerland; Australia vs. Britain; Sweden vs. Brazil; Spain vs. Belgium; Argentina vs. Germany; Czech Republic vs. Russia.

The United States, the winner of a record 31 Davis Cup titles, last reached the final in 1997 and has not won the event since 1995.

Croatia expects to have 2000 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic back for Cup play. Ivanisevic, 31, underwent left shoulder surgery last May 16 and has not played any tennis since April 6. He began training this week and said the United States would be a "very attractive rival -- and also a very good and dangerous rival."

Ivanisevic said he was "very much hoping to play, at least in doubles."

"However, with or without me, it will be very hard to beat" the Americans, he said.

Patrick McEnroe, captain of the U.S. team, said he expected again to use younger players like James Blake and Andy Roddick, who played singles for the United States in the semifinals against France.

That means he won't be asking U.S. Open champion Pete Sampras and runner-up Andre Agassi to play.

On Tuesday, Sampras withdrew from all remaining ATP tournaments this season, saying he was "taking some time to re-evaluate where I want to go from here."

"It's time to pass the baton completely," McEnroe said. "It's time for all of us to go forward and stop asking if these guys are going to play. It's time to move on."

The winner faces Spain or Belgium for the quarterfinals.

The first-round matches are set for Feb. 7-9, the quarterfinals April 4-6, the semifinals on Sept. 19-21 and the 2003 finals on Nov. 28-30.

 

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