United States-based pair Michael Venus and Austen Childs will make their Davis Cup tennis debuts for New Zealand in next month's tie against Pakistan in Hawera.
Venus and Childs, who were named alongside Rubin Statham and Marcus Daniell for the Asia/Oceania group two semifinal, have been rewarded for recent success in the US college system and at ITF Futures events,
Childs, 21, became the first New Zealander to ever make the final of the NCAA championship this month, beating a number of seeded players along the way. He is ranked 19th in the NCAA rankings while studying at the University of Louisville.
Mt Maunganui-born Childs was a finalist at the New Zealand residential championships in December where he was beaten by Daniell, and was a quarterfinalist at the Australian Open junior championship.
Venus, 22 has spent most of his teenage years living in the US, graduating from the Louisiana State University after transferring from the University of Texas during his sophomore year in 2006-07.
He has an ATP ranking of 530 in singles and 566 in doubles which is expected to rise next week after he won both the singles and doubles - with Daniell - at a Futures tournament in California last week.
Venus has two Futures singles titles to his credit and four doubles titles.
The senior player in the team will be Statham, who has been as high at 294 in the world, but has a current rank of 413.
Statham has been in the New Zealand team for the past six years and has an impressive 13 wins from 16 Davis Cup matches.
In January, Daniell became the first New Zealander for more than 10 years to win the doubles at the Heineken Open. He teamed with Romanian Horia Tecau to score a string of upsets and now has a world doubles ranking of 200 and singles of 651.
Kiwi No1 Dan King-Turner was not available for selection as he has playing commitments in Europe.
