Davis Cup Tennis
From the open tennis era there are very few tournaments in which international teams take part. In international team tennis events Davis cup tennis tournament is considered as most premium tennis tournament. International Tennis Federation, ITF, is the governing body, which looks after whole matters of Davis cup. Davis cup tickets and Davis cup schedule is released by ITF.
The tournament was started in 1900 when Harvard University Tennis team wanted to challenge the British team for a tennis competition. A student Dwight F. Davis presented the whole format and idea to the responsible authorities. The idea was appreciated a lot. First Davis Cup was played between the teams of Great Britain and USA. The first expansion in the tournament was made in 1905 when teams of France, Austria, Belgium, and Australasia also participated in the Davis cup tennis tournament. At that time the tournament was known as International Lawn Tennis Challenge. The name was changed to Davis Cup as the memory of Dwight F. Davis when he died in 1945.
More than hundred teams initially play the qualifiers to get the place in 16 top teams, which play the final round of Davis Cup. Two players play as country representatives in the Davis cup competitions. For the non-seeded players it is a chance to play with tennis stars. Although it is not a ranking tournament but many star players play the tournament to represent their country team. Andy Roddick at Davis cup is the exemplar of the presence of star player in cup. Marat Safin Davis cup performance is also very dominant.
Americans most dominant Davis cup winners wining the title 31 times and leaving the stage as runners up 29 times. Australia with the 28 Davis Cup titles is at 2nd place. They also finished as runners-up 18 times.
|
|
||
 |
A Davis cup-tie is the competition between two countries. A tie consists of five matches, which are known as rubbers in terms of tennis. Tie is played on three days. 1st day men’s singles are played in which two players face opponents. 2nd day is the day for doubles event. On the final day reverse singles matches are played.
You can watch Davis cup matches on TV. ESPN Davis cup coverage provides you every single moment of Davis cup on your TV. 2007 Davis cup on TV by ESPN was so superb. All Davis cup results and news about Davis cup are updated regularly. You can also see Davis cup tennis results on the official site of ESPN.
2007 Davis cup final will be played between Russia and USA. The finals will be played in Portland, USA on the dates 30 November-2nd December. Russia is hot favorite for winning. Russian team has been seeded as number1 in the tournament and they proved their dominance. American team was ranked number y6 for the event. They qualified for the final after beating Sweden by a score of 4-1.
Davis cup tournament also gives a good idea about what is the potential of tennis in a country. Teams are divided into 3 regions or Zone. First is the American Zone, 2nd one is Asia/Oceania and 3rd and final one is the Europe/Africa zone. Teams are further divided into four groups there. Last 1 or 2 teams of each group are related to the lower group and top 1 or 2 teams are promoted to higher group. 2 teams from American group, 2 from Asia/Oceania and four teams from Europe/Africa zone qualify for final playoffs.
