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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Fish, Isner, Bryans Named to Davis Cup, with Krajicek, Kudla and Williams Practice Partners; Sock Has Surgery; USC Men, UCLA Women Remain No. 1

DCpractice

The US Davis Cup team was officially announced today, with Mardy Fish, John Isner and the Bryan brothers named to face the French team of Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra April 6th-8th in Monaco in the World Group quarterfinals.

Captain Jim Courier was on a conference call today to answer questions, so, as I always do, I asked about the practice partners. Courier made it clear that USTA head of men's tennis Jay Berger is responsible for selecting the practice partners, who are Rhyne Williams, Austin Krajicek and Denis Kudla.

Andy Roddick said after the team beat Switzerland without him in February that he wasn't going to ask to be included this time, and Ryan Harrison will not be traveling with the team either, unless there is an injury between now and then. Harrison was named to the Davis Cup team against Colombia in September of 2010 and was also on the team that shut out Switzerland in Switzerland last month.

For a complete transcript of Courier's conference call, see ASAP Sports.

The Lincoln, Nebraska Journal Star reported today that Jack Sock had surgery to repair an abdominal muscle tear earlier this month. Sock hopes to return to the court in a couple of weeks and is aiming to return to competition by late June at Wimbledon, but with his ATP ranking at 332, he will need a wild card to compete there.

The latest Campbell/ITA rankings have been released, and the undefeated UCLA women and USC men remain at the No. 1 positions. USC is followed by Ohio State, who didn't fall from No. 2 after their loss to Georgia, Georgia, who moved up a spot following that win, Virginia and UCLA.

One of the best matches of this week is in Malibu tomorrow, where the No. 7 Pepperdine Waves host No. 8 Stanford. Pepperdine has made a big jump the last couple of weeks, up from No. 15 three weeks ago.

The UCLA women are followed by Florida, Duke, USC and Miami. Stanford has fallen to No. 6, but will have their opportunity to move up when they host USC and UCLA on April 13th and 14th. The big jump in the women's rankings was made by Illinois, who, following wins over Texas and Nebraska, went from 50 to 21.

In the new individual rankings, Allie Will of Florida and Mitchell Frank of Virginia continue to hold the top spots. Will is followed by Duke's Beatrice Capra, Stanford's Nicole Gibbs and Mallory Burdette and Cal's Jana Juricova, who is finally back competing after being out most of the season with an injury.

After Frank is USC's Steve Johnson, Virginia's Jarmere Jenkins, Illinois' Dennis Nevolo and Ohio State's Blaz Rola. Jenkins assumed Duke's Henrique Cunha's No. 3 place after beating him 7-6(4), 6-1 to clinch a 4-3 win for the Cavaliers over the Blue Devils last Friday. Cunha is now ranked sixth.

In the doubles rankings, Ohio State's Rola and Chase Buchanan continue to hold the top men's ranking, but the women have a new team at No. 1--Will and Sofie Oyen of Florida.

For the complete rankings, see the ITA website.

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