Davis Cup
History - Facts - Records - Draw - Winners - Schedule - Teams
Important Facts
Tennis is typically an individual sport. It is wonderful to see the communication, camaraderie and mutual support evident between the players in most Davis Cup teams. While over 120 nations are participating in Davis Cup each year only 16 countries are invited to play in the elite World Group.
The competitors play for their nations rather than for themselves. The pressure to perform is immense - some players can fall apart while others can rise to the occasion, defeating much more highly ranked opponents.
The home team chooses the playing surface, a huge advantage which accounts for the high number of upsets in Davis Cup play. For example, Australia plays Ecuador in the first round in 2001 in Perth, Australia. The Australian team chose a grass surface which will greatly disadvantage the Ecuadorian clay-courters.
Strategy plays an important element in the doubles match. The doubles match, played on its own day, can change the direction of a tie. Deciding who will play the doubles match, including whether or not to use your top singles player and risk tiring him for the decisive day, is a crucial Davis Cup decision.
Among the deciding factors taken into account are how the nation fared in recent Davis Cup action, the strength and ranking of the players likely to perform for a given nation, the ability of a nations’ players to compete on a variety of surfaces, and the depth of a nation in terms of doubles.
The decision as to which countries will be seeded is made by the Davis Cup Committee, who takes a variety of factors into consideration when making the seeding.