Davis Cup

The idea of Davis Cup, originally played between the USA and Great Britain, was a brainchild of the members of the Harvard University team and Dwight Davis was the man who first designed the format of which the championship should be played. He purchased the trophy to be presented to the winner, from his funds. Hence, the tournament is named in his honor. The International Tennis Federation organizes the tournament. Originally the Davis Cup was played between the USA and Great Britain in 1900. After that, there was a steady increase in the number of countries joining the tournament. This tournament marks the supremacy of the men’s tennis team in the world. In the inaugural tournament, the number of participating countries was four in the year 1905. In that year, there was a combined team of Australia and New Zealand. The number reached 20 by the year 1920. The number of participating countries continued to increase with the passing years. In 1969, when the differentiation between amateur and professional players was negated, more countries started to compete in the tournament and the number of participants reached 50.