Christopher BarrettThe Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) said the AO Arena (cap. 21,000) in Manchester will host the group stages of the Davis Cup Finals from 12-17 September.
British tennis’ national governing body selected the ASM Global-operated Manchester venue to host the event after Britain was chosen last year as one of four nations to host the group stages of the Finals. Each nation will play three times over the six-day competition. The top two nations from each of the four groups will advance to a quarter-final knock-out competition held in Malaga between 21-26 November.
The multi-year agreement between the LTA and the International Tennis Federation to host a group stage in Britain is on the basis that Britain qualifies or receives a wild card for the finals in each of those years.
Manchester is the fifth UK city to host the Davis Cup in the last 10 years, joining Coventry, Glasgow, London and Birmingham. In 2015, Britain won the Davis Cup for the first time in 79 years.
ASM Global said it is overseeing the redevelopment of AO Arena, formerly known as Manchester Arena, which involves its capacity being expanded to 24,000 and it becoming one of the most environmentally sustainable venues in Europe.