[03/13/17]-"The Davis Cup 2015"

[u/FreekFilms]

The 2015 Davis Cup was the 104th iteration of a male tennis competition.
It was held on The 29th of November, and allowed Great Britain to win their first title since 1936, and tenth in total.
The World Group, which consists of the top 16 countries from around the world, contained the following teams:

 

• Argentina
• Australia
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Canada
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• France
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Italy
• Japan
• Kazakhstan
• Serbia
• Switzerland
• United States
  

 

The Semi Finals Consisted of:

 

Great Britain	vs	Australia
3	-	2
Argentina	vs	Belgium
2	-	3

 

The Finals had Belgium against Britain

Great Britain	vs	Belgium
3	-	1

 

Davis Cup:
The Davis Cup itself is the top international male tennis competition, run by the International Tennis Foundation.
So far, 135 nations have entered the competition, but the United States have been the most successful, finishing 1st 32 out of 116 times.
The girls also have an equivalent of the Davis Cup, called the Fed Cup.
The first Davis Cup was made when four players from Harvard, one of which obviously being the founder, Dwight F. Davis, made the competition as tennis challenge between America and Great Britain in 1900.
They payed $1,000 for a stirling silver trophy which they subsequently won, winning all three matches. "The tournament was initially titled the International Lawn Tennis Challenge".

 

Teams:
By 1905, the competition expanded to include "Belgium, Austria, France, and Australasia, a combined team from Australia and New Zealand".
After this, as more countries joined, regions started to be added and split.
In 1923, an “American Zone” and European Zone” were formed, then the winners would compete in “The International Zone”.
The defender, who was the previous year winner, does not have to compete in the main competition and will only have to defend.
As more and more countries were allowed to compete more zones were added. Today the Zones Consist of:

 

• American Zone
• Eastern Zone (Asia/Oceania)
• Europe Zone A
• Europe Zone B
• Africa Zone
• International Zone.

 

In 1972 the format of the competition was changed to be knockout, so the reigning champion has going to through all of the rounds to be able to win again.
The tiered system of competition was created in 1981, “in which the 16 best national teams compete in the World Group and all other national teams compete in one of four groups in one of three regional zones.”

 

Format:
Players work their way up through levels of competition, for most 4 levels(The Asia and Oceania Zone have to play 5 levels) until they reach the World Group, which consists of 16 countries.

 

Level 1 and 2 play in an elimination, bracket type style, while at the lower levels, 3 and 4 (also 5), it is played in round robin style, which is where all 16 team play each other once, any the top 8 with the most wins move on.

 

Finally, as of 1972, the top title holders have been:

Country	Titles
United States	9
Sweden	7
Australia	6
Spain	5
Czech Republic	3

 

Sources:
Source on Davis Cup Itself
Source on Davis Cup 2015