Davis Cup

Davis Cup: see tennis.

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Davis Cup

Trophy awarded to the winning team of an international tennis tournament for men. It was donated in 1900 by Dwight F. Davis, himself a player in the first two matches (called ties), for a competition between teams from the U.S. and Britain. Since then, the tournament has developed into a truly international event. More than 100 nations have participated, but winners have been largely confined to the U.S, Australia, France, Britain, and Sweden.

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Davis Cup

November-December

The Davis Cup is the oldest international men's tennis competition, inaugurated in 1900 and credited with drawing world attention to the game. Tennis was then a young sport; the first U.S. national championship games were played in 1881. The competition was fathered by Dwight F. Davis, who was U.S. doubles champion with Harvard teammate Holcombe Ward in 1899-1901. Davis believed international competition would boost the game's popularity and had a 13-inch-high silver bowl crafted by a Boston silversmith; it was to be called the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy but became known as the Davis Cup.
From the first, the championship was open to all nations. The first games, held at the Longwood Cricket Club in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, had only two contestants: a British Isles team and the American team (captained by Davis). The Americans won, 3-0. The Brits did better—but still lost—in 1902. In 1903, they won, and it was not until 1913 that the U.S. regained the cup.
There was growing interest in the cup. Four nations competed in 1919, and that number grew to 14 in 1922 and 24 in 1926. From the start, teams have consisted of two singles players and a doubles team. There are five matches—four singles and one doubles. Each match is awarded one point, and the first team to win three points wins the cup. In women's tennis, the Federation Cup, inaugurated in 1963 and played each year in the spring, is considered the equivalent of the Davis Cup.
The United States dominated the Davis Cup in the 1920s, spurred by William T. ("Big Bill") Tilden II, who was a member of the Davis Cup team for 11 years. France won in 1927 and went on to win the next five years up through 1932. Great Britain was a power in the 1930s, and Australia and the United States dominated in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s; in the late 1970s and the 1980s the winners had a multi-national flavor. In 1980, Czechoslovakia became the first Communist country to win the Davis Cup. The United States won in 1990, but in 1991, playing in Lyons, France, the French team knocked out the champion U.S. team 3-1 and owned the cup for the first time in 59 years. The French team (led by Guy Forget, Henri Leconte, and coach Yannick Noah) kissed, hugged, leapt over the net, lay down on the court, and danced a conga line. Sweden dominated the 1990s, winning in 1994, 1997, and 1998.

CONTACTS:
International Tennis Federation
Bank Lane
Roehampton
London, SW15 5XZ United Kingdom
44-20-8878-6464; fax: 44-20-8392-4744
www.itftennis.com
The International Tennis Federation
Bank Lane
Roehampton
London, SW15 5XZ United Kingdom
44-20-8878-6464; fax: 44-20-8392-4744
www.daviscup.org
(c)