Great Britain today start their Davis Cup Final verses Belgium on the first day of three. Andy Murray carries the expectations of tennis fans around Great Britain in the pursuit of the prestigious team trophy.
Not sure what the Davis Cup is about? Then please read our fact file and information below...
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in
men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested annually between teams from
competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a
challenge between Great Britain and the United States. By 2015, 125 nations
entered teams into the competition. The most successful countries over the
history of the tournament are the United States
and Australia . The present champion is Switzerland, who beat France to
win the title for the first time in 2014.
The women's equivalent of the Davis Cup is the Fed Cup.
Australia, the Czech Republic, and the United States are the only countries to
have held both Davis Cup and Fed Cup titles in the same year.
History
The tournament was conceived in 1899 by four members of the
Harvard University tennis team who wished to challenge the British to a tennis
competition. Once their respective lawn tennis associations agreed, one of the
four Harvard players, Dwight F. Davis, designed a tournament format and ordered
an appropriate sterling silver trophy from Shreve, Crump & Low, purchasing
it from his own funds for about $1,000. They in turn commissioned a
classically-styled design from William B. Durgin's of Concord, New Hampshire,
crafted by the Englishman Rowland Rhodes. Davis went on to become a prominent
politician in the United States in the 1920s, serving as US Secretary of War
from 1925–29 and as Governor-General of the Philippines from 1929–32.
The first match, between the United States and Britain, was
held at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston, Massachusetts in 1900. The
American team, of which Dwight Davis was a part, surprised the British by
winning the first three matches. The following year the two countries did not
compete, but the US won the match in 1902 and Britain won the next four matches
after that. By 1905 the tournament expanded to include Belgium, Austria,
France, and Australasia, a combined team from Australia and New Zealand that
competed together until 1914.
The tournament was initially titled the International Lawn
Tennis Challenge although it soon became known as the Davis Cup, after Dwight
Davis' trophy. The Davis Cup competition was initially played as a challenge
cup. All teams competed against one another for the right to face the previous
year's champion in the final round, and the previous year's champion advanced
directly to the current year's final round.
Beginning in 1923, the world's teams were split into two
zones: the "America Zone" and the "Europe Zone". The
winners of the two zones met in the Inter-Zonal Zone to decide which national team would challenge
the defending champion for the cup. In 1955, a third zone, the "Eastern
Zone", was added. Because there were three zones, the winner of one of the
three zones received a bye in the first round of the INZ challenger rounds. In
1966, the "Europe Zone" was split into two zones, "Europe Zone
A" and "Europe Zone B", so the winners of the four zones
competed in the INZ challenger rounds.
From 1950 to 1967, Australia dominated the competition,
winning the Cup 15 times in 18 years.
Beginning in 1972, the format was changed from a challenge
cup, so that the defending champion was required to compete in all rounds, and
the Davis Cup was awarded to the tournament champion.
Up until 1973, the Davis Cup had only ever been won by the
United States, Great Britain/British Isles, France and Australia/Australasia.
Their domination was eventually broken in 1974, when South Africa and India
qualified for the final; however, the final was scratched and South Africa was
awarded the Davis Cup after India refused to travel to South Africa for the
final in protest of the South African government's apartheid policies. The following year saw the first final
between two "outsider" nations that was actually played; Sweden beat
Czechoslovakia 3–2, and since then several other countries have gone on to
capture the trophy.
In 1981, the tiered system of competition was created, which
remains in use today, and in which the 16 best national teams compete in the
World Group and in which all other national teams compete in one of the four
groups in one of the three regional zones. In 1989, the tiebreak was also
introduced into Davis Cup competition. The tiebreak is now used in all sets
except for fifth set, which remains an advantage set. However, in September
2015 it was announced that for the 2016 season, the Davis Cup would change to
an all-tiebreak format.
On the 100th anniversary of the tournament's founding, 129
nations competed for the Davis Cup. The United States has won the event the
most times, closely followed by Australia, Great Britain, France and Sweden.
Davis Cup games in Sweden have been affected by political
protests several times:
The match between Sweden and Rhodesia 1968 was supposed to
be played in Båstad but was moved to Bandol, France, due to protests against
the Rhodesian white minority government of Ian Smith.
The Swedish government tried to stop the match between Chile
and Sweden in 1975 in Båstad, due to violations of human rights in Chile. The
match was played, even as 7,000 people were outside protesting against it.
After the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, 6,000 people
protested outside the Malmö city Davis Cup match between Sweden and Israel in
March 2009. The Malmö city politicians expected this protest storm, and were
concerned about extremists, and decided due to security reasons to let a small
audience in.
Format
Tournament
The 16 best national teams are assigned to the World Group
and compete annually for the Davis Cup. Nations which are not in the World
Group compete in one of three regional zones . The competition is spread over
four weekends during the year. Each elimination round between competing nations
is held in one of the countries, and is played as the best of five matches .
The ITF determines the host countries for all possible matchups before each
year's 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. Teams are seeded based on a ranking system released by the ITF,
taking into account previous years' results. The defending champion and
runner-up are always the top two seeds in the tournament. The losers of the
first-round matches are sent to the World Group playoff round, where they play
along with winners from Group I of the regional zones. The playoff round
winners play in the World Group for the next year's tournament, while the
losers play in Group I of their respective regional zone.
Each of the three regional zones is divided into four
groups. Groups I and II play elimination rounds, with the losing teams facing
relegation to the next-lower group. The teams in Groups III and those in Group
IV play a round-robin tournament with promotion and relegation.
Structure
Ties and rubbers
As in other cup competitions tie is used in the Davis Cup to
mean an elimination round. In the Davis Cup, the word rubber means an
individual match.
In the annual World Group competition, 16 nations compete in
8 first-round ties; the 8 winners compete in 4 quarter-final-round ties; the 4
winners compete in 2 semifinal-round ties; and the 2 winners compete in the
final round tie.
Each tie consists of 5 rubbers, which are played in 3 days .
The winner of the tie is the nation which wins 3 or more of the 5 rubbers in
the tie. On the first day, the first 2 rubbers are singles, which are generally
played by each nation's 2 best available singles players. On the second day,
the doubles rubber is played. On the third day, the final 2 rubbers are
typically reverse singles, in which the first-day contestants usually play
again, but they swap opponents from the first day's singles rubbers. However,
in certain circumstances, the team captain may replace one or two of the
players who played the singles on Friday by other players who were nominated
for the tie. For example, if the tie has already been decided in favour of one
of the teams, it is common for younger or lower-ranked team members to play the
remaining dead rubbers in order for them to gain Davis Cup experience.
Ties are played at a venue chosen by one of the competing
countries. The right of choice is given on an alternating basis. Therefore,
countries play in the country where the last tie between the teams was not
held. In case the two countries haven't met since 1970, lots are drawn to
determine the host country.
Venues in the World Group must comply with certain minimum
standards, including a minimum seating capacity as follows:
World Group Play-offs: 4,000
World Group First round: 4,000
World Group Quarterfinals: 6,000
World Group Semifinals: 8,000
World Group Final: 12,000
Prior to each tie, the captain of each nation nominates a
squad of four players and decides who will compete in the tie. On the day
before play starts, the order of play for the first day is drawn at random. In
the past, teams could substitute final day singles players only in case of
injury or illness, verified by a doctor, but current rules permit the captain
to designate any player to play the last two singles rubbers, provided that no
first day matchup is repeated. There is no restriction on which of the playing
team members may play the doubles rubber: the two singles players, two other
players or a combination.
Each rubber is normally played in a best-of-5 set. The first
four sets use a tiebreak if necessary, but the fifth set usually has no
tiebreaker, so play continues until one side wins by two games . However, if a
team has clinched the tie before all 5 rubbers have been completed, the
remaining rubbers may be shortened to the best-of-3-sets, with a tie breaker if
necessary to decide all three sets.
In Group III and Group IV competition, each tie consists
only of 3 rubbers, which include 2 singles and one doubles rubber, which is
played in a single day. The rubbers are in the best-of-3-set format, with a tie
breaker if necessary to decide all three sets.
Come on Great Britain!
Tipster Street.
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