The Birmingham (Alabama) News reports that approximately 4,500 tickets per session per day have been sold for this weekend's U.S.-Russia Fed Cup tie. The U.S. attendance record for a Fed Cup is 5,741 per day in 2003, when both Venus and Serena Williams faced off against the Czechs in Lowell, Mass. Neither sister will play this weekend.
The newspaper reported that the city tried so hard to convince the Williamses to play that mayor William Bell even sent them a video featuring local African-American kids saying they'd love to see Venus and Serena in Birmingham.—M.C.