Davis Cup

Recently, someone asked me to explain what is Davis Cup, so here we go. Davis Cup is the annual international team competition in men's tennis. In 1900 Dwight F. Davis, a student on the Harvard tennis squad, wanted to match the skills of four members of his team against a team from Britain. Davis devised a format that called for three days of competition, with two singles matches on the first day, a doubles match on the second, and two more singles matches on the final day. Known as a "tie," this head-to-head arrangement pits nation against nation and remains in use today.

With more than 100 years of history behind it, most of the great names in tennis have participated in their countries' quest for the Davis Cup, now under the management of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). Among these are stars Rod Laver, Bill Tilden, Fred Perry, Don Budge, Ken Rosewall, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Andy Roddick.

Each year, 16 nations qualify to compete for the Davis Cup as part of the upper-echelon World Group, earning a spot in the exclusive field via regional play or previous year's results. These nations face one another in four rounds of single-elimination ties throughout the year. Within these contests each match is referred to as a "rubber" in Davis Cup lingo. Ties consist of four singles matches and one doubles match, scheduled over three days, with all rubbers best-of-five sets.The first four sets are decided by tie-breaks if needed and the final set is played out until one player has a two game advantage.

This scoring system can add to the excitement of the event, just like the epic match at Wimbledon between Isner and Mahott that ended 70-68 in the fifth. On the second day a doubles match is played as an additional point, and is usually the pivotal point of the tie. Over the last ten years the U.S. has had the Bryan Brothers playing for them in this position and their record speaks for itself, 17-2. The final day is the reverse singles of the first day. If the match has already been won then the matches are shortened to best of three set matches.

This year's Davis Cup final will be between Serbia and France. It is Serbia's first ever appearance in the finals, whereas France has been in the final 15 times and has won 9 times, their last win coming back in 2001 over Australia. Every tie's venue is determined before the start of the year and in this case, Serbia will be hosting the finals. Each year the Davis Cup champions and runner's up become the top seeds for the following year's competition. The rest of the group is made up with the six other teams that made it out of the first round. The remaining 8 teams come from the World Group play-off; this consists of the 8 teams that lost in the first round of the World Group and the two winners of the group one in the America's and Asia/Oceania regional zones. The remaining four teams come from the winners of the group one Europe/Africa regional zone.

This helps to explain why the U.S. had a must-win match against Colombia back in the middle of September. The U.S. had lost in the first round earlier in the competition 3-2 to Serbia, so they needed a win in order to stay in the World Group that represents the best 16 nations in the world. What makes this feat even more impressive is that they had to go to Colombia to play, on red clay, the week after the U.S. Open final with a completely new team. The team was headed up by Mardy Fish, along with Sam Querrey, John Isner, Bob Bryan, and Ryan Harrision. After the impressive win against Colombia, the next stop for the Team USA will be Chile in March 2011, with new coach Jim Courier. Hopefully, Andy Roddick and both Bryan brothers will be joining them too.

Hope this gives you a better understanding of Davis Cup. It's one of the rare occasions where professional players come together to represent their nations, outside of the Olympics.