Fed Cup 2019 is this weekend at the U.S. Cellular Center – Cue the thousands of athletes + fans who are excited to be in town this weekend for the largest international women’s team event in the world. Here at home, hosting two years in a row is quite a big deal. DYK: The last time a city hosted Fed Cup events in consecutive years was in 2005-07 at Delray Beach Tennis Center in Florida?

Team USA will battle Australia for the second time since 1985 (15th time overall, making the U.S. having played Australia more than any other nation) and has a 9-5 head-to-head record over the Aussies. This year’s Fed Cup will also be the first time USA has hosted Australia since 1976 at the Spectrum Stadium in Philadelphia.

A crowd of over 5,200 people is expected to watch the matches each day on Feb. 9-10 at the U.S. Cellular Center. Saturday consists of the best-of-five match series that will begin with two single matches, and Sunday features two reverse singles matches + doubles match. The winner of this match-up will advance the the Semifinals April 20-21. 🎾

Last year, the 2018 Fed Cup generated an estimated economic impact of $3.5 million to the area. A big thank you to all the visitors eating at our local restaurants + staying in our hotels. 💸 Currently, the city is preparing for another successful Fed Cup weekend by training their volunteers, finishing up the court + more. Talk about more than 3,500 hours in prep work.⏰

And for all you locals, if you didn’t get tickets you can livestream the match on Tennis Channel.com both days. Bonus: If you are out-and-about at Fed Cup, be sure to tag #AVLtoday on Instagram, Twitter + Facebook. 🎾 And watch out on our Instagram stories for some live shots. (See what we did there?)

The players for both teams were announced last week, and representing Team USA is Madison Keys, Danielle Collins, Sofia Kenin + Nicole Melichar – led by Captain Kathy Rinaldi.

Are you excited for Fed Cup? I sure am. And, be sure to follow AVLtoday on Instagram because I will be there sharing all the excitement with you. GO TEAM USA! 🎾

–Audra