Whether it’s the warmth of the sun, the sound of the surf or simply the laid-back island lifestyle, Americans have certainly played some of their best tennis in Hawaii.
Team USA will hope that trend continues in March, when its Davis Cup team returns to Hawaii for the first time in 28 years for a qualifying competition against Uzbekistan.
The U.S. will host Uzbekistan at the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu on March 6-7, with the winning nation advancing to the 2020 Davis Cup finals in Madrid in November.
This will be the second year of this new format for the finals, in which 18 nations converge on one venue to compete for the title. The qualifying competition against Uzbekistan is a best-of-five-match series played over two days, with each country bringing a team of four or five players.
Competition 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.
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. "It’s truly a privilege to bring Davis Cup back to Hawaii,” 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 tennis in the Aloha State.”
Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday, Jan. 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.
The U.S. has only played Davis Cup in Hawaii once, a 5-0 sweep over Argentina in the 1992 first round at Mauna Lani Racquet Club on Kohala Coast. That proved to be a good omen for captain Tom Gorman’s team, which went on to beat Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Switzerland to win its record-extending 30th title.
The U.S. Fed Cup team has played in Hawaii twice in recent years, in 2016 at Kailua Kona—a 4-0 win over Poland in World Group II play—and in 2017 in Maui—a 4-0 World Group sweep of Germany.
"We are delighted to host Davis Cup in Hawaii after hosting the Fed Cup in 2016 and 2017. It is a great way for us to support the U.S. Davis Cup team and promote tennis in our local community,” said USTA Hawaii-Pacific Executive Director Ron Romano.
The U.S. Davis Cup team is currently captained by former world No. 7 Mardy Fish. The players representing both teams will be named no later than 10 days before the start of the competition.
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