Davis Cup History

Every year in the tennis world, competititon takes place between nations. The name of this competition is The Davis Cup and a trophy is awarded annually to the nation that wins that year's team tennis competition.

The Davis Cup is named appropriately enough, after Dwight Filley Davis. Dwight Davis attended  Harvard in the 1890's and fell in love with the game of tennis. Davis was quite an accomplished player and, at one time,  ranked number #2 in the US. Davis actually competed in the first 2 Davis Cups.  Many people used to refer to the Davis Cup as Dwight's pot.

The first ever Davis Cup competition took place in 1900 at the Longwood Club in Brookline, Massachussets. It pitted Britain versus the US in 1900 and was won by the Americans.

No competition took place in 1901. In 1902, the Americans won again, coming back from 2 points down to win.

Over the next few years, other countries joined the competition. Tennis squads from France, Australasia  (Australia and New Zealand), and Belgium were added.

Dwight Davis died in 1945. Following his death, the cup was named the Davis Cup.

Today most of the nations of the world compete. In 2004, there were 137 nations that participated. The competition between each country is called a  "tie", and consists of 5 matches with the winner needing to win 3 matches. The first day of the competition consists of 2 singles matches. The second day consists of a doubles match, and the final day has 2 more singles matches.

The matches have a best of five format so that to win a player or a doubles team must win three sets.

Today, the "ties" are held beginning on Fridays. The first 2 singles matches take place on Friday, the one doubles match takes place on Saturday, and the final 2 singles matches take place on Sunday. The opponents in singles do not play each other more than one time, so that if two players squared off on the first day of competition on Friday, they would not play each other again on the final day. That's why the competition on the Sunday is called reverse singles.

One of the more interesting tactical features of Davis Cup play is that the home nation selects the surface upon which the matches are to be played. Since grass, clay, and hard courts are distinctly different surfaces, countries try to pick a surface which suits the strengths of the home country's players and perhaps, as well, is a weaker surface for the visiting country.

John McEnroe of the US and Mats Wilander of Sweden in 1982 played the longest singles match in Davis Cup histor. The match lasted 6 hours and 22 minutes.