Southland players head U.S. Davis Cup team

The Davis Cup match between the U.S. and host Serbia on March 5-7 in Belgrade could almost be called Southern California against Serbia.

Sam Querrey of Thousands Oaks will play singles and twins Mike and Bob Bryan of Camarillo will play doubles, captain Patrick McEnroe announced Wednesday. The other singles player will be John Isner of Georgia.

The match will be played on red clay in a 20,000-seat arena, one that McEnroe expects to be raucous. It will be the first Davis Cup meeting between the U.S. and Serbia.

Two U.S. Davis Cup stalwarts, Andy Roddick and James Blake, already had announced they were sitting out the team competition to concentrate on regular tournament play. The 22-year-old Querrey and 24-year-old Isner, who at 6 feet 9 will be the tallest player in U.S. Davis Cup history, according to McEnroe, were next in line.

“I’m excited to see how John and Sam play together,” McEnroe said. “It’s a great opportunity for both of them. This isn’t a total changing of the guard because the door is never shut on the other guys coming back, but I’m very excited to see how Sam and John do in a very tough environment.”

Serbia most likely will be led by the world’s second-ranked player, Novak Djokovic.

McEnroe acknowledged that the conditions will be tough for the U.S. because slow red clay is not the best surface for almost any American player and because the Serbian fans are notably loud and enthusiastic.

“The guys are going to have to put their blinders on,” McEnroe said. “And no one is going to pick a hard surface for the U.S.”

diane.pucin@latimes.com

twitter.com/mepucin