OKLAHOMA CITY -- Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick were placed on the U.S. Davis Cup team Tuesday for a first-round match next week against Slovakia.

	Davis Cup matchups
	First round schedule and locations:
	France vs. Netherlands Metz, France
	Czech Republic vs. Brazil Ostrava, Czech Republic
	Spain vs. Morocco Zaragoza, Spain
	U.S. vs. Slovak Republic Oklahoma City, Okla.
	Switzerland vs. Russia Moscow
	Great Britain vs. Sweden Birmingham, Great Britain
	Croatia vs. Germany Zagreb, Croatia
	Argentina vs. Australia Buenos Aires, Argentina
	Remaing rounds Sites and teams TBD April 5-7 quarters Sept. 20-23 semis Nov. 29-Dec. 1 final

Todd Martin, Mardy Fish and James Blake also were picked by U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe, although only four players may be on the team. McEnroe will have to settle on those four by Feb. 7, the day before the three-day event begins.

"It's a great mix of, obviously, the young guys and the veterans," McEnroe said in a conference call. "Having Pete back is going to make it a real special year, to have his leadership out there."

Sampras, winner of a record 13 Grand Slam singles titles, will be playing in his 15th Davis Cup series but his first since April 2000, when the United States beat the Czech Republic 3-2 in a second-round match. He is 14-7 in Davis Cup singles and 4-1 in doubles.

Sampras said a year ago that he doubted he would play Davis Cup again, although McEnroe said talks he had with Sampras last year left him sure that Sampras still had an interest.

"The discussions I had last year were the same as those I had early this year, that Davis Cup can be good for you, Davis Cup is an event that's emotional, intense, you have to play your best tennis," McEnroe said. "He needs these types of matches now to keep himself motivated.

"He wants to gear up for the majors. Not only am I happy to have him on the team because of his play, but also because of his stature and who he is. I think him being around the younger players will be energizing to him and I think it'll be inspiring to them."

The 19-year-old Roddick played in two Davis Cup series last year. He won both his singles matches against India in a preliminary round in October, and won his singles match in February when the United States lost to Switzerland 3-2 in the first round.

McEnroe said Roddick had recovered from an ankle injury sustained at the Australian Open.

Blake won both his matches against India at No. 2 singles. Martin, 31, has been in 16 Davis Cup series and has played every year since 1994, but has lost seven straight matches in Cup play. Fish, 20, is making his Davis Cup debut.

Sampras and Roddick are expected to play singles, with the doubles team likely coming from among the other three players, although McEnroe said nothing will be finalized until after practices next week.

He said he felt it best to use more singles players as opposed to choosing a doubles team.

Slovakia will be represented by Dominik Hrbaty, Karol Kucera, Jan Kroslak and Karol Beck. Slovakia, captained by Miloslav Mecir, has reached the quarterfinals in Davis Cup play two times in the past three years.

The best-of-five series begins Feb. 8 at the Myriad Convention Center. Two singles matches will be played that day, with a doubles match Feb. 9 and two more singles matches Feb. 10.

The U.S.-Slovakia winner will play the Spain-Morocco winner in early April.