Davis Cup - Tennis

The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the USA.

By 2007, 137 Nations entered teams into the competition.

The most successful countries over the history of the tournament are -
USA (winning 32 tournaments and finishing as runners-up 29 times)
Australia (winning 28 times, including four occasions with New Zealand as Australasia and finishing as runners-up 19 times)

Davis Cup Format
The world's 16 best national teams are assigned to the World Group and compete annually for the Davis Cup.The competition is spread over four weekends during the year. Each elimination round between competing nations is held in one of the countries. The ITF determines the host countries for all possible matchups before each year's tournament.

2012 Davis Cup
The 2012 Champion is the Czech Republic  who beat Spain to claim the title

The Czech Republic won the Davis Cup for the first time in its history with a 3-2 defeat of Spain on Sunday Nov 18,2012.This is the second title for Czech Republic, who won its only previous title as Czechoslovakia in 1980
David Ferrer (ESP) d. Radek Stepanek (CZE) 63 64 64
Tomas Berdych (CZE) d. Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 63 36 63 67(5) 63
Tomas Berdych/Radek Stepanek (CZE) d. Marcel Granollers/Marc Lopez (ESP) 36 75 75 63
David Ferrer (ESP) d. Tomas Berdych (CZE) 62 63 75
Radek Stepanek (CZE) d. Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 64 76(0) 36 63

Radek Stepanek(Czech Republic)defeats Nicolas Almagro(Spain) 6-4, 7-6 (7-0), 3-6, 6-3 in nearly four hours.

 Radek Stepanek, aged 33, became the oldest player to win a deciding fifth rubber in Davis Cup Final history. He is only the second player over the age of 30 to win a deciding fifth rubber in the Davis Cup Final. The only time this has occurred previously was 100 years ago in 1912, when 31 year old James Parke, representing British Isles, overcame Rodney Heath of Australasia in Melbourne




2012 Davis Cup Results
Quarter-finals
Spain    4                                                      USA         3
Austria  1                                                      France      2

Czech Republic     4                                      Argentina  4
Serbia                   1                                      Croatia      1

Semi-finals
Spain                    3                                     Czech Republic   3
USA                     1                                     Argentina            2