Veteran Andre Agassi and former U.S. Open winner Andy Roddick lead the United States when it takes on Croatia in the first round of the Davis Cup tennis competition this week.
Agassi has 30 wins and five losses in Davis Cup play and has been on three Cup-winning teams. Roddick helped lead the U.S. to the Davis Cup finals last year, only to lose to Spain.
The U.S. team, a 31-time Davis Cup champion, hosts Croatia, which beat the Americans in the first round two years ago. The last time the U.S. won the trophy was in 1995, its longest championship drought ever.
Defending champion Spain will be without world number six Carlos Moya when it visits Bratislava to take on Slovakia. World number one Roger Federer is skipping Switzerland's tie against the Netherlands in Fribourg, Switzerland.
Australian Open champion Marat Safin of Russia leads his nation against Chile in Moscow. Argentina hosts the Czech Republic, with the Argentines looking to reverse a losing streak, the Czechs have won the previous two meetings with Argentina.
Nine-time former champion France takes on seven-time winner Sweden. The last time the two teams met was in 1996, with the French winning, 3-2.
Romania meets Belarus for the first time in Brasov, Romania. The winners of this week's best-of-five match series meet in the quarterfinals in July. The Davis Cup final is in December.
Some information for this report provided by AP.
