Sunday, February 5, 2012

Davis Cup - How, Who & When


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.




Interesting facts:
- Spain’s unbeaten home run now stands at 21 ties, which is a World Group record.
- The all-time record for successive home wins is held by Italy, who won 28 ties between 1949 and 1964.
- Consecutive titles All-time: 7, United States, 1920–1926
- Consecutive finals appearances All-time: 23, Australia, 1946–1968



World Group: The eight nations that win their World Group first round ties progress to play in the quarterfinals, semifinals and subsequent final, at which the winning team is crowned champion. These nations are all guaranteed of a place in the top tier the following year. The eight nations that lose their first round ties have to contest the World Group play-offs (that then decide promotion and relegation between the eight first round losers from World Group and eight winners from Zone Group I).
The Zone Groups are divided into three regions: Americas, Asia/Oceania and Europe/Africa. Within each region there are either three or four divisions, Group I being the highest and Group IV being the lowest.
Zone Groups III and IV follow a different format to the higher Groups. They are week-long events played at one location. Each Group is initially split into round-robin pools, with play-offs then deciding promotion and relegation. The exact format of each Group varies according to the number of participating teams.
World Group and Zone Groups I and II Ties are contested in a best-of-five rubbers format and are played over a three-day weekend. There are two singles on Friday, a doubles on Saturday and then the reverse singles on Sunday. The tie is hosted by one of the competing nations.
Zone Groups III and IV Ties are contested in a best-of-three rubbers format and are played on one day. There are two singles followed by a doubles. Due to the multi-nation format, ties take place on successive days.

 The Duke of Edinburgh; H A Pitt, president of the Victorian Lawn Tennis Association; Queen Elizabeth II; and Sir Norman Brookes, president of the LTAA, looking at the Davis Cup during a royal tour of Australia.


Schedule for Season 2012:


10-12 February:   World Group 1st round
                              Americas Zone Group I and II 1st round
                              Asia/Oceania Zone Group I and II 1st round
                              Europe/Africa Zone Group I and II 1st round
6-8 April:               World Group quarterfinals
                              Americas Zone Group I and II 2nd round / 1st round play-offs / play-offs
                              Asia/Oceania Zone Group I and II 2nd round / 1st round play-offs / play-offs
                               Europe/Africa Zone Group I and II 2nd round / 1st round play-offs / play-offs
16 April (1 week):    Asia/Oceania Zone Group IV
23 April (1 week):    Asia/Oceania Zone Group III
30 April (1 week):    Europe Zone Group III
2 July    (1 week):    Africa Zone Group III
To be confirmed:    Americas Zone Group III
14-16 September:   World Group semifinals / play-offs
                                Americas Zone Group I 2nd round play-offs
                                Americas Zone Group II 3rd round
                                Asia/Oceania Zone Group I 2nd round play-offs
                                Asia/Oceania Zone Group II 3rd round
                                Europe/Africa Zone Group I 2nd round play-offs
                                Europe/Africa Zone Group II 3rd round
16-18 November:    World Group Final

World Group First Round Teams:
Spain                                                   vs                                         Kazakhstan                               
Nicolas Almagro                                                                               Mikhail Kukushkin
Marcel Granollers                                                                             Andrey Golubev
Juan Carlos Ferrero                                                                          Yuriy Schukin
Marc Lopez                                                                                      Evgeny Korolev
Alex Corretja (captain)                                                                      Yegor Shaldunov (captain)
                          Palacio Municipal de los Deportes, Oviedo, Spain 

Austria                                                vs                                          Russia 
Jurgen Melzer                                                                                    Alex Bogomolov
Andreas Haider-Maurer                                                                     Mikhail Youzhny
Alexander Peya                                                                                 Nikolay Davydenko
Olivier Marach                                                                                   Igor Kunitsyn
Clemens Trimmel (captain)                                                                 Shamil Tarpischev (captain)
                                      Arena Nova, Wiener Neustadt, Austria 

Canada                                                vs                                          France  
Milos Raonic                                                                                      Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Vasek Pospisil                                                                                    Gael Monfils
Frank Dancevic                                                                                  Julien Benneteau
Daniel Nestor                                                                                     Michael Llodra
Martin Laurendeau (captain)                                                               Guy Forget (captain)
                                  Thunderbird Sports Centre, Vancouver, Canada


  USA  
Mardy Fish
John Isner
 Ryan Harrison
Mike Bryan 
Jim Courier (captain) 
vs

Switzerland                                        
Roger Federer                                      
Stanislas Wawrinka                              
Marco Chiudinelli                                
Michael Lammer                                  
Severin Luthi (captain)                                                                      
                                 


                                


Forum Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

Czech Rep.                                          vs                                          Italy 
Tomas Berdych                                                                                   Simone Bolelli
Radek Stepanek                                                                                  Daniele Bracciali
Lukas Rosol                                                                                        Andreas Seppi
Frantisek Cermak                                                                                Potito Starace
Jaroslav Navratil (captain)                                                                    Corrado Barazzutti (captain)
                                        CEZ Arena, Ostrava, Czech Republic 

Serbia                                                   vs                                         Sweden
Janko Tipsarevic                                                                                 Michael Ryderstedt
Viktor Troicki                                                                                     Carl Bergman
Ilija Bozoljac                                                                                       Filip Prpic
Nenad Zimonjic                                                                                   Robert Lindstedt
Bogdan Obradovic (captain)                                                                Thomas Enqvist (captain)
                                                   Hala Cair, Nis, Serbia 

Japan                                                    vs                                         Croatia    
Kei Nishikori                                                                                       Ivan Dodig
Go Soeda                                                                                            Ivo Karlovic
Tatsuma Ito                                                                                         Antonio Veic
Yuichi Sugita                                                                                        Lovro Zovko
Eiji Takeuchi (captain)                                                                          Zeljko Krajan (captain)
                                       Bourbon Beans Dome, Hyogo, Japan 

Germany                                               vs                                          Argentina
Florian Mayer                                                                                       Juan Ignacio Chela
Philipp Kohlschreiber                                                                            Juan Monaco
Philipp Petzschner                                                                                 David Nalbandian
Tommy Haas                                                                                         Eduardo Schwank
Patrik Kuhnen (captain)                                                                         Martin Jaite (captain)
                                 Stechert Arena Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany 


Official website: http://www.daviscup.com/en/home.aspx
More info can be found at: www.wikipedia.org

xo K

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