In no other event is home court a bigger advantage than in Davis Cup.   The home team selects a surface suited to its team, and traditionally staid tennis fans all turn raucous in favor of the hosts.  When the U.S. and Switzerland square off in Birmingham, Ala., on March 6-8, the Americans would figure to be the favorites of this first round showdown in this football-crazy town.

But check out the previous match records of the anticipated pairings.  The combined singles record of Americans Andy Roddick and James Blake versus Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka is a dismal 3-27.  The suprising part of this is that Roddick and Blake are a combined 0-3 against Wawrinka, although all matches were on red clay, and Roddick’s one loss was an injury retirement in the early part of the set in last year’s Italian Open.  As expected, Blake and Roddick have lopsided series with Federer — Roddick is 2-16 and Blake is 1-8. 

And you might think that the Americans could rely on dominance in the doubles when they turn to Bob and Mike Bryan, the twins who are the world No. 1 doubles team and fresh of an Australian Open championship.  But Federer and Wawrinka beat the twins in the Olympic doubles semifinal in Beijing, on the way to the Swiss win of the gold in doubles.

The Birmingham match will be first time that a Swiss team led by the dominant Federer has played the American team anchored by Roddick, Blake and the Bryans.  The U.S. won the Davis Cup championship in 2007, the first American cup in 12 years. Before that, the U.S. had dominated in the first 100 years of the event, winning the championship 32 times.  The Swiss have never captured the cup despite competing for 79 years.

But Federer, at 27 already one of the greatest players of all time who can tie Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slams with his next major victory, has vowed to change that.  Last year he devoted himself to bringing the Davis Cup to Switzerland after he and Wawrinka won the Gold medal in doubles at the Olympics.

The U.S. is hosting because the last match between the two teams was played in Switzerland.  The Americans are known for their power—Roddick holds the record for the hardest serve ever hit, a 155-mph bomb during a Davis Cup match in Charleston, S.C., in 2004—and will choose a very fast-playing hard court.  But the fast-court is not a huge advantage against Federer.  He has won five U.S. Opens in a row and counting, and also has had great success at Wimbledon where he holds five titles. 

America and the Swiss are tied 1-1 in Davis Cup history, last playing in 2001 when Federer led his team to a 3-2 victory in Basel, Switzerland. That was Patrick McEnroe’s first match as U.S. captain, and before Roddick and Blake joined the team.  The U.S. beat Switzerland in 1992 in Fort Worth, Texas, with a star-studded American lineup of Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and John McEnroe.

Birmingham last hosted a major pro tennis event in 1994 when the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships was played here. The city also hosted a USTA Pro Circuit men’s challenger from 1991-93 and 1995-2003. Blake won the doubles titles and was the singles runner-up at the Challenger in 2001 and the Bryan brothers won the doubles title in 1999.

The Birmingham bout will be one of eight first round matches played across the globe on the first weekend in March in the 16-country World Group flight.  Teams including Spain, Russia, France and Serbia, are competing for the 2009 cup to be decided over the course of the year. The best-of-five match competitions feature four singles and one doubles match, and are often collectively referred to as a “tie” in Davis Cup lingo.  The winner in Birmingham will go on to play either France or the Czech Republic in the second round.

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