USA Prepares for Davis Cup

VIENNA, Austria (Ticker) - The United States Davis Cup team may not be as dominant as it was in the past, but the Americans are defending champions nonetheless. Led by Andy Roddick and James Blake, the U.S. squad begins the quest for back-to-back titles on Friday when it faces Austria in the first round of the ITF event.

While the Americans own a record 32 Davis Cup trophies, four ahead of Australia and 23 more than Great Britain and France, they have won just four titles since claiming back-to-back championships in 1981-82. The U.S. won its most recent hardware in December when the talented doubles tandem of Bob and Mike Bryan defeated Russians Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko to clinch the best-of-five World Group series final, 3-0.