This years davis cup was won by spain . some info about the Davis Cup:
"The
Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the
International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in
1900 as a challenge between
Britain and the
United States. By
2007, 137 nations entered teams into the competition. The most successful countries over the history of the tournament are the United States (winning 32 tournaments and finishing as runners-up 29 times) and
Australia (winning 28 times, including four occasions with
New Zealand under the name '
Australasia', and finishing as runners-up 19 times). The present champion is
Spain who beat
Argentina to claim the titleThe tournament was conceived in 1899 by four members of the
Harvard University tennis team who wished to challenge the British to a tennis competition. Once their respective lawn tennis associations agreed, one of the four Harvard players,
Dwight F. Davis, designed a tournament format and ordered an appropriate
sterling silver trophy from
Shreve, Crump & Low, purchasing it from his own funds. They in turn commissioned a classically-styled design from
William B. Durgin's of
Concord, New Hampshire, crafted by the Englishman
Rowland Rhodes. Davis went on to become a prominent politician in the United States in the 1920s, serving as
US Secretary of War from 1925–29 and as
Governor-General of the Philippines from 1929–32.he first match, between the
United States and
Britain (which competed under the name "
British Isles"), was held at the
Longwood Cricket Club in
Boston, Massachusetts in
1900. The American team, of which Dwight Davis was a part, surprised the British by winning the first three matches. The following year the two countries did not compete but the US won the next match in
1902. By
1905 the tournament expanded to include
Belgium,
Austria,
France, and
Australasia, a combined team from Australia and New Zealand that competed together until
1914.
The tournament was initially titled the International Lawn Tennis Challenge although it soon became known as the Davis Cup, after Dwight Davis' trophy.
From 1950 to 1967, Australia dominated the competition, winning the Cup 15 times in 18 years.
The United States has won the event the most times (32), closely followed by Australia (28 [including 4 as Australasia]), Great Britain (9 [including 5 as the British Isles]), France (9) and Sweden (7).
Up until 1973, the Davis Cup had only ever been won by the United States, Great Britain/British Isles, France and Australia/Australasia. Their domination was eventually broken in 1974, when South Africa and India qualified for the final; however, the final was scratched and South Africa was awarded the Davis Cup after India refused to travel to South Africa for the final in protest of the South African government's apartheid policies. (As of 2010, South Africa has never actually played in a Davis Cup finals match.) The following year saw the first final between two "outsider" nations that was actually played; Sweden beatCzechoslovakia 3–2, and since then, several other countries have gone on to capture the trophy.
In 1989, the tiebreak was also introduced into Davis Cup competition. The tiebreak is now used in all sets except for 5th set, which remains an advantage set.
On the 100th anniversary of the tournament's founding, 129 nations competed for the Davis Cup.
ok?
