The Davis Cup

The Davis Cup is an annual International Team event for men, named after Dwight F. Davis, the Harvard scholar who designed the format of the competition and purchased the trophy.

The competition was founded in 1900 as a challenge between the United States and Great Britain, and has grown in popularity so much over the years that in 2007 a staggering 137 nations entered teams.

The first ever Davis Cup match took place (under its original moniker of the International Lawn Tennis Challenge) between Great Britain and the United States at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston, Massachusetts with the Americans winning the first three matches. The next tournament took place in 1902 with the USA again emerging victorious.

By the 1905 tournament the tournament had grown and included teams from Belgium, Austria, France and Australasia (a joint team from Australia and New Zealand), and by 1920 there were over 20 countries playing in the competition. In 1927 France won the Davis Cup for the first time and embarked on a run that saw them win the following six tournaments after which time the United States and Great Britain regained the control.

The current Davis Cup format was introduced in 1981 with 16 nations competing each year. The remainder of the countries were split into regional groups in a league format in which they can be promoted or relegated. 1991 was also the year the tournament began to be sponsored by NEC, and the input of sponsorship money meant that there was a prize fund for the first time.

Today, the Davis Cup attracts the worlds top players, who take pride in competing for their countries and enjoy taking part in the only tennis tournament in the world in which they compete in a team.

Davis Cup Format

The Davis Cup features the top 16 national teams in the world according to International Tennis Federation rankings, with the top two teams from the previous year seeded numbers one and two. This is called the World Group.

The remainder of the competing nations are divided into three regional zones (The Americas, Asia/Oceania, and Europe/Africa). The elimination rounds between each of the competing nations are held in one of the competing countries and are spread over four weekends throughout the year.

The 16 teams in the World Group play a four round elimination tournament

The World Group is the top group and includes the world's best 16 national teams. Teams in the World Group play a four-round elimination tournament. The losers of the first-round matches go to a World Group playoff round, where they meet the winners from Group I of the regional zones, with the playoff round winners qualifying to play in the World Group for the following years tournament and the losers relegated to playing in Group I in their respective zone.

The three Regional Zones are divided into four groups with Groups I and II taking part in elimination rounds, Groups III and IV play in a league format with promotion and relegation.

In the Davis Cup the term “tie” means an elimination round and the word “rubber” means an individual match, so in the World Group tournament the 16 nations compete in 8 first round ties with the winners progressing to 4 quarter final ties and so on until they reach the final.

A tie consists of 5 rubbers which are played over the course of three days. To win the tie the nation must win 3 or more of the five rubbers. The first two rubbers are singles matches and are generally played by the nation’s best players, the third rubber is a doubles match and the remaining two rubbers are singles games, usually featuring the players who played the first two rubbers but with them swapping opponents. If by the time the fourth and fifth rubbers are played one nation has already qualified, they are allowed to nominate a junior player to play the tie and rest the better players for the next round, which has the added benefit of giving the junior player some Davis Cup experience.

Davis Cup Trivia

• The Women’s equivalent of the Davis Cup is the Federation Cup.
• The youngest ever player to compete in the Davis Cup was Mohammed Akhter Hossain of Bangladesh, who competed when he was just 13 years and 326 days old. The oldest player ever to compete was Gadonfin Koptigan Yaka from Togo at 60 years and 247 days.
• Croatia became the only unseeded team ever to win the Davis Cup when they won in 2005.
• The only nation to have competed in every Davis Cup is Great Britain.
• The United States hold the title for the most Davis Cup wins with 32, 7 of those won consecutively from 1920-1926.
• South Africa won the Davis Cup in 1974 without lifting a racquet in the final tie when India refused to play in the final in a protest against the South African Governments policy on apartheid.