Dwight Filley Davis was a left–handed tennis player who was runner–up in the US National Tennis Championships (later to become the US Open) in 1898 and 1899. With his compatriot Holcombe Ward he won the Men's Doubles title at the same championships three years in a row from 1899 to 1901; Davis and Ward were also Men's Doubles runners–up at Wimbledon in 1901.
Davis studied at Washington University Law School, and in 1899 he won the American intercollegiate singles championship as a student at Harvard. That summer, he and three other Harvard students travelled to the West Coast of the United States, to play that region's best talent. The success of this venture suggested that an international tournament could do equally well. Wikipedia says that Davis approached James Dwight, who as the first president of the US National Lawn Tennis Association, from 1881, had tried unsuccessfully to arrange a match that would benchmark the development of American players against the renowned British champions. Dwight was in favour, at least in principle, so Davis ordered a trophy at a cost of around $1,000.
The trophy came to be known as the Davis Cup, and before long the competition itself (originally known as the International Tennis Challenge) would be referred to by the name of the trophy – not unlike the FA Cup. It would, it appears, be wrong to assume that Dwight Davis created the competition single–handedly; the Davis Cup's own website credits its foundation to Dwight Davis and his three Harvard colleagues mentioned above.
At the first tournament, the US team – captained by Davis – surprised the British by winning; and they won again second time around, in 1902 (when Davis played but was not captain). Britain won the following four matches; meanwhile, by 1905 the tournament had expanded to include Belgium, Austria, France, and Australasia (a combined team from Australia and New Zealand, which competed together until 1914 – winning the tournament four times).
By 2016 a total of 135 national sides entered the competition. The structure is complicated, with 16 teams competing in the World Group and other groups competing over four different levels (with up to four groups at each level), the best and worst teams in each group being promoted or relegated as appropriate. In 2019 the format was changed so that the World Group is played over a single week, known as the Davis Cup Finals.
At the time of writing, the 2020 tournament has been postponed until 2021, with the World Group taking place in November. The current champions are Spain, who won for the sixth time in 2019. All of Spain's six wins have come in the 21st century, the first being in 2000. The United States have the most wins with 32, Australia coming second with 28 wins (including the four as Australasia). Australia dominated the competition from 1950 to 1967, winning 15 times in those 18 years. France and Great Britain are equal third with six wins each, and Sweden are fifth with seven (all between 1975 and 1998). Great Britain's win in 2015, for which Andy Murray has with no little justification been given the lion's share of the credit, was their first since 1936.
At the time of writing, the USA last won the competition in 2007 and Australia four years earlier.
© Haydn Thompson 2020