Davis Cup
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Image:Hoad and Rosewall with Davis Cup 1953.jpg
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. The largest annual team competition in sport[citation needed], the Davis Cup is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. In 2005, 134 nations entered teams into the competition.
Countries aspire to compete in the elite World Group of 16 nations which comprises four rounds of competition spread over four weekends during the year. Each World Group 'tie' between two competing nations consists of 5 matches (known as 'rubbers') carried out over the course of three days, usually Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. On the Friday, the first two matches are singles, generally between the two best available players of each country. A doubles match is played on the second day. On the third day, the final two matches are typically reverse singles in which the first-day contestants traditionally play again, but swap opponents from the first day's singles matches. If the tie has already been decided in favour of one of the teams, it is common for younger lower-ranked team members to play the remaining 'dead-rubbers' in order for them to gain Davis Cup experience.
The captain of each nation is able to nominate a squad of four players for each tie and he decides which of these players will compete in the first three rubbers. On the Thursday before play starts schedule of play is randomly drawn to decide the pairings of the nominated singles players in the first two rubbers. In the past, teams could only substitute final day singles players when the result of the tie had already been determined, but nowadays the rules allow teams to select any playing team member to play the last two singles matches provided that first day matchups are not repeated. There is no restriction on which of the playing team members plays the doubles match: the two singles players, two other players (usually doubles specialists) or a combination.
All rubbers are normally best-of-5 sets with the 4 first sets being using tiebreak, if a 5th set is played its long (as example 8-6). If a team has clinched the rubber before all 5 matches are played, any remaining reverse singles matches are shortened to best-of-3 sets. In the lower divisions usually best-of-3 sets are played.
The women's equivalent of the Davis Cup is the Fed Cup (known as the Federation Cup before 1995).
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[edit] History
The tournament was conceived in 1899 by four members of the Harvard University tennis team who came up with the idea of challenging the British to a tennis showdown. Once the idea received the go ahead from the respective lawn tennis associations, one of the four Harvard players, Dwight F. Davis, designed a tournament format and spent the money from his own pocket to purchase an appropriate sterling silver trophy. The first match, between the United States and Great Britain was held 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 next match in 1902. By 1905 the tournament expanded to include Belgium, Austria, France, and Australasia, a combined team from Australia and New Zealand that competed together until 1913.
The tournament was initially known as the International Lawn Tennis Challenge. It was renamed the Davis Cup following the death of Dwight Davis in 1945. Dwight Davis also became a prominent politician in the United States in the 1920s, serving as Secretary of War from 1925-29 and as Governor General of the Philippines from 1929-32.
From 1950 to 1967, the Australian Davis Cup Team dominated the competition, winning the Cup 15 times in 18 years.
Since inception, the US Davis Cup Team has won the event the most times (31), followed by Australia (24 [28 including Australasia]), France and Great Britain (9 each)[Includes British Isles 5], Sweden (7), and Australasia (4).
Up to 1973, the Davis Cup had only ever been won by the U.S.A., Great Britain, France and Australia/Australasia. Their domination was broken in 1974, when South Africa and India qualified for the final. India refused to play in the final that year in protest against the South African government's apartheid policies, thus handing South Africa a walk-over victory (as of 2006, South Africa has never actually played a single Davis Cup finals match). The very next year saw the first final played between two "outsider" nations, with Sweden beating Czechoslovakia 3-2, and since then, several other countries have gone on to capture the trophy.
On the 100th anniversary of the tournament's founding, 129 nations competed for the Davis Cup.
[edit] Davis Cup winners
[edit] Recent finals
- 2006 - Image:Flag of Russia (bordered).svg Russia wins 3-2 over Image:Flag of Argentina.svg Argentina
- Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) def. Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG), 6-1, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4
- David Nalbandian (ARG) def. Marat Safin (RUS), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
- Dmitry Tursunov/Marat Safin (RUS) def. Agustín Calleri/David Nalbandian (ARG), 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
- David Nalbandian (ARG) def Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) 6-2, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
- Marat Safin (RUS) def José Acasuso (ARG), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5)
- 2005 - Image:Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia wins 3-2 over Image:Flag of Slovakia.svg Slovakia
- Ivan Ljubičić (CRO) def. Karol Kučera (SVK), 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
- Dominik Hrbatý (SVK) def. Mario Ančić (CRO), 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4
- Mario Ančić/Ivan Ljubičić (CRO) def. Dominik Hrbatý/Michal Mertinak (SVK), 7-6 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
- Dominik Hrbatý (SVK) def. Ivan Ljubičić (CRO), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
- Mario Ančić (CRO) def. Michal Mertinak (SVK), 7-6 (1), 6-3, 6-4
- 2004 - Image:Flag of Spain.svg Spain wins 3-2 over the Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States
- Carlos Moyà (ESP) def. Mardy Fish (USA) 6-4, 6-2, 6-3
- Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. Andy Roddick (USA) 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-6 (6), 6-2
- Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (USA) def. Juan Carlos Ferrero/Tommy Robredo (ESP) 6-0, 6-3, 6-2
- Carlos Moyà (ESP) def. Andy Roddick (USA) 6-2, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5)
- Mardy Fish (USA) def. Tommy Robredo (ESP) 7-6 (8), 6-2
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[edit] Current Rankings
[edit] See also
[edit] External link
Davis Cup Teams
Image:Flag of Australia.svg Australia | Image:Flag of the United States.svg USA
Editions of the Davis Cup
1900 | 1901 | 1902 | 1903 | 1904 | 1905 | 1906 | 1907 | 1908 | 1909
1910 | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919
1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 | 1928 | 1929
1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939
1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949
1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959
1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969
1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979
1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989
1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999
ca:Copa Davis de tennis cs:Davis Cup da:Davis Cup de:Davis Cup es:Copa Davis fr:Coupe Davis ko:데이비스컵 hi:डेविस कप hr:Davis Cup it:Coppa Davis he:גביע דייוויס hu:Davis-kupa lb:Davis Cup nl:Davis Cup ja:デビスカップ no:Davis Cup pl:Puchar Davisa pt:Copa Davis ro:Cupa Davis ru:Кубок Дэвиса sk:Davisov pohár sh:Davis Cup fi:Davis Cup sv:Davis Cup zh:台維斯盃
