The Tennis Channel/OLN Announce Live Davis Cup

TTC/OLN PRESS RELEASE

LOS ANGELES AND STAMFORD, CONN., Sept. 21, 2006 -- The Tennis Channel and OLN, which will change its name to VERSUS on Sept. 25, will resume live and same-day coverage of U.S. Davis Cup action this weekend during the team's competition with Russia in Moscow's Olympic Stadium. The networks are 2006 U.S. Davis Cup domestic television partners.

The semifinal event between Russia and the United States will consist of two singles matches on Friday, Sept. 22, one doubles match Saturday, Sept. 23, and two singles matches Sunday, Sept. 24. Each of the five matches is worth one point, with the team that wins at least three points advancing to the Davis Cup championship in December. OLN will carry all matches live this weekend, beginning at 2 p.m. ET each day, followed by same-day, prime-time replays on The Tennis Channel at 8 p.m. ET.

Coverage from Moscow's Olympic Stadium is as follows (subject to change):

Friday, Sept. 22:

2 p.m. ET, OLN, Live Coverage -- Singles, First Day

8 p.m. ET, The Tennis Channel, Prime-Time Replay -- Singles, First Day

Saturday, Sept. 23:

2 p.m. ET, OLN, Live Coverage -- Doubles, Second Day

8 p.m. ET, The Tennis Channel -- Prime-Time Replay -- Doubles, Second Day

Sunday, Sept. 24:

2 p.m. ET, OLN, Live Coverage -- Singles, Third Day

8 p.m. ET, The Tennis Channel -- Prime-Time Replay -- Singles, Third Day

Should the U.S. team defeat Russia to advance to the Davis Cup final both OLN (VERSUS) and The Tennis Channel will cover the championship round Dec. 1-3. In that case, the American squad would visit the winner of the other Davis Cup semifinal competition between Argentina and Australia, live on The Tennis Channel this weekend: Friday, Sept. 22, at 9:50 a.m. ET; Saturday, Sept. 23, at 10:30 a.m. ET; and Sunday, Sept. 24, at 9:50 a.m. ET.

Despite holding the overall Davis Cup record with 31 championships, the U.S. team has not won the title since 1995 when it was led by the likes of Pete Sampras and Jim Courier. This year's team is captained by Patrick McEnroe and features four of America's best tennis players. Andy Roddick is the World No. 6 singles player and comes into this weekend's match after an impressive run to the US Open final two weeks ago. James Blake, World No. 9, is a having a career year that has seen him reach the top 10 rankings for the first time. On the doubles front, twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan continue to be the world's most dominant pair, currently ranked No. 1 and winners of this year's Australian Open and Wimbledon championships.

After defeating Romania 4-1 in February's first round, the U.S. team beat Chile 3-2 in April, to advance to this weekend's semifinal match-up.

The Russian Davis Cup team heads into the semifinals with plenty of firepower of its own. World No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko and World No. 24 Mikhail Youzhny are both coming off dramatic advances to the US Open semifinals this year. Dmitry Tursunov is ranked No. 22, and Marat Safin, though ranked No. 72, is a former Grand Slam champion who is always considered an on-court threat. The squad is captained by Shamil Tarpischev.