The Fed Cup’s 53rd edition will include a first-ever visit to Hawaii.
Billed as “The World Cup of Tennis,” the Fed Cup annually unites some of the world’s most prominent women’s tennis players competing for their countries. The event will make its first stop in the islands, with Holua Tennis Center in Kailua Kona playing host to a match between the United States and Poland set for Feb. 6 and 7.
FED CUP
At Kailua Kona
» Teams: United States vs. Poland
» When: Feb. 6 (two singles matches) and Feb. 7 (two reverse singles, one doubles match)
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The selection of Holua as the site of the World Group II first-round matchup was announced Tuesday in a press conference at the Hawaii Convention Center.
The two-day, best-of-five series opens with two singles matches on Feb. 6, with two reverse singles matches and a doubles match on Feb. 7.
The lineup of pros who will represent the United States won’t be finalized until late January. But the pool of available players figures to be intriguing.
“Our fingers are crossed, but you certainly have some potential,” sad Ron Romano, executive director of the United States Tennis Association Hawaii Pacific Section. “You have some great talent on the women’s side and I think regardless of who plays it’s going to be exciting and, who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and have the No. 1 player in the world come out.”
Serena Williams has played in the Fed Cup in three of the past four years, skipping the event in 2014, though the availability of the world No. 1 for the trip to Hawaii will likely hinge on a list of factors, including her performance at the Australian Open, which precedes the Fed Cup stop in Hawaii.
Needless to say, Williams has been invited and USTA senior director Jeff Ryan said the list of those available for selection by U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez already includes Venus Williams, ranked 13th in the WTA rankings, and No. 19 Madison Keys.
Fernandez will have until 10 days before the start of the match to submit her four-player roster to face Poland, which is expected to be led by No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska.
The Fed Cup promises to be the biggest tennis event held in the state since a Davis Cup match between the U.S. and Argentina at Mauna Lani Racquet Club in 1992, which included Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and John McEnroe.
Ryan added that International Tennis Federation rules require players to make themselves available for Fed Cup play three times in a four-year window to be eligible for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, and at least once in 2015 or ’16.
“You’re going to see in general across the board more players making themselves available to Fed Cup in ’16,” Ryan said. “Those are players who haven’t met that commitment yet and need to play a couple more times. I think that plays in our favor that we’re going to have a lot of people to choose from.”
Ryan attributed the Fed Cup appearance in Hawaii to the timing of the Australian Open, set to conclude Jan. 31, and Romano’s efforts on behalf of the USTA Hawaii Pacific Section.
“They’ve been persistent in attracting us,” Ryan said. “The tennis calendar is very crowded, and the way the dates fit into the calendar for us to be here in Hawaii contributed heavily.
“You have time to acclimate, to rest, maybe have light hit or two for the first couple of days and then play.”
Both Ryan and Romano also cited the involvement of the Hawaii Tourism Authority in enhancing the bid.
“We’ve wanted to do a Fed Cup or a Davis Cup for a while. … A lot of things have to line up, and one of them that lined up was the Australian Open,” said Romano, who met with USTA officials at the U.S. Open this summer to present Hawaii’s bid.
“And Hawaii Tourism Authority getting involved … was the big part of it. The whole partnership with the Hawaii Tourism Authority was the last thing that made it work.”
Ryan said tickets are scheduled to go on sale to the general public by Dec. 11 and packages are projected to start at $25 per day.
The Fed Cup includes more than 100 countries, with the U.S. and Poland in World Group II. The winning country will have a chance to play its way into the top-tier World Group for 2017. This year’s Fed Cup final between Russia and the Czech Republic is set for Nov. 14-15 in Prague.
The U.S. defeated Argentina 4-1 in February, led by Venus Williams’ two singles victories. Serena also won two singles matches in a playoff against Italy in April. But Italy claimed the doubles point in a 3-2 victory.
Romano and Ryan said the atmosphere of a Fed Cup match is a striking contrast to most tennis tournaments.
“If you’re watching a tennis match, maybe Wimbledon, and everybody’s quiet and you can’t talk,” Romano said. “Fed Cup is more like a basketball game and everybody is cheering and excited and there’s this energy you just don’t get in regular tennis.”