Davis Cup

The Davis Cup is a team tennis tournament that is only played by men. Its currently run by the International Tennis Federation but was originally run by the British Tennis Assocation.

The Beginning
The first Davis Cup (International Lawn Tennis as it was then known) was played in 1900 between the United States and the British Isles. After the United States won the next one, the British Isles caused an upset in 1902 to move it to the British Isles for the first time. The United States couldn't put a team into the 1903 and 1904 season which was both won by the British Isles. Then in 1905 a "World Group" was formed to challenge the British Isles with Austria and Australia joining for the first time. The run of five wins would then come to end in 1908 when Australia took home the trophy and for the time it moved down south for the first time.

After the United States won the Davis Cup back in 1909, different champions started with the British Isles winning the trophy back in 1911 before changing hands once again in 1913 when Canada shock the British Isles in Worple Road when Robert Powell won the final match in five sets to James Parke. For Canada though it would only be one year as they got defeated by Australia before the war came in 1914 stopping all tennis for four years.

Between the Wars
After the war, Australia retook the title in 1919 when defeated first time champions France in Sydney, Australia, but in 1920 the United States dominated not losing a tie which would be that way until 1925 where they lost the tie against Japan in shocking circumstances. During the time of USA dominance, the qualifying draw was split into the Americas and Europe in 1923 with the chance being because of travel distances between countries. The USA did hit back in 1926 with fight as they took back the Davis Cup. The next year, Hungary made a appearance in the Challenge Round for the first time but was easily beaten by the United States. Italy then upset the defending champions after making a dream run which involve beating France, Germany and Portugal before defeating Japan in the inter-zone playoff. This meant Italy would create history by holding the first ever final on clay as they lost to Great Britain who would defend it in 1930. In 1931, the Americas was split into two draws with three new countries in Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay joining the competition.

South American nations though couldn't make it through to the inter-zonal playoff with all them withdrawing until 1950 where Brazil would join the European zone. After France took their first titles in 1931-1932 and 1933, Australia took the title for the first time in 15 years defeating France 5-0 before the United States won the title back in 1935. Australia regained for one brief year in 1936, the United States took it back. In 1938, the team from Yugoslavia made it all the way through to the challenge final before getting destroyed 5-0 in the final.

After the war
The Second World War brought a stop to all sport. In 1946, the competition had a name change after Dwight F. Davis who was the founder died in 1945. But the Americans continued to dominate as they defeated Australia in the challenge round 5-0 to take home the fourth title in a row. 1947 saw South Africa make it all the way to the inter-zone playoff to be the first African team to make it that far but in the final, a five-nil lost to Australia give the rights to the opposition where once again the Americans would take it out by a score of three-two. The following year continued the United States and Australia dominance in making it to the Challenge Round with America once again winning the title for the 18th time with a 5-0 victory. The next year was much the same with Sweden attempting the challenge to take on Australia in the inter-zonal final but after defeating Sweden 5-0, Australia gave it a tough fight in the challenge round to only lose 3-2 to America.

The 1950s would see a change with the first Asian tie to be held in the Davis Cup when Pakistan headed off to the Philippines for their first round tie in the European Zone. In the Challenge Round, Australia would retake the trophy as they defeated the Americans 4-1 in the tie to reclaim the title. The following year would see a creation of a third zone with the Eastern Zone being created. This meant that the Inter-Zonal playoff system was extended with the American-Zone (won by the United States) having the bye while Sweden and India battled it out to see who would meet them. The end result would be that Sweden would win the tie by 4-1 before going to lose to the United States which in turn would lose to Australia in the challenge round.

As the Australians won the 1953 edition three to two against the Americans, talks were starting to circulate about the dropping and having the defending champions entering their region before meeting with their region having the bye in the first round. The main two nations in Australia and the United States shot down that idea and wanted to keep the former system going. With this discussion ongoing the 1954 edition would see Great Britain making the challenge round for the first time since 1931 where they would lose to Australia. Before the 1955 edition started, it was decided that the champion would enter the inter-zonal rounds as champion as it basically eliminated the challenge round and as a added bonus they got to host the final at the home ground.