Outside of the four major Grand Slam tournaments each year the Davis Cup is one of the most popular events on the pro-tennis circuit. Dubbed “The World Cup of Tennis” the tournament is held annually across weekends between February and November. The Davis Cup tennis competition pits the world’s best men’s national teams and has origins dating back to 1900.
The women’s equivalent of the Davis Cup is the Fed Cup, run since 1963. Like with the Grand Slam events including the Australian Open and Wimbledon, the competitors play in a best-of-five set matches. Along with the four Grand Slam tournaments the competition is regulated by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) as are the Olympic Games tennis events, Fed Cup and Hopman Cup. It is considered the premier men’s only international tennis event and takes place in a knock-out format between teams from all around the world.
Davis Cup 2018
- Date: 2nd February - 25th November, 2018
- Edition: 107th
- Sponsor: BNP Paribas
Known as the “World Cup of Tennis” the Davis Cup winners are titled the World Champion Team and all ITF member nations have a competing team in the competition. The series was founded by Dwight F. Davis who played for America in the inaugural competition at Boston, Massachusetts. After the passing of Dwight F. Davis in 1945 the competition was renamed as the Davis Cup in 1945. It now runs over a range of weekends across the year and each round is an elimination round held in one of the countries of the competing national teams.
Davis Cup Odds & Betting
Davis Cup odds are hugely popular each year and the defending champions often sit high up the betting markets in the overall Davis Cup Champions betting markets.
Davis Cup betting opens early in the year before the first of the four weekends of play in February or March and betting is available on the outright tournament winner, as well as exotic markets on Davis Cup results including the best of each regional zone. Punters can also take advantage of Davis Cup betting match-by-match once the schedule is released with head-to-head odds the most popular. Other markets available include those on the set results of each game, a specified team to win by Love and which team will win the first set.
Davis Cup Opening Round – Featured Matches
2018 Davis Cup World Group Draws & Results
2018 Davis Cup Draw: World Group
The World Group Opening Matchups for the 2018 Davis Cup. Photo by Davis Cup Twitter Account
- First Round: 2-4 February, 2018
- Quarterfinals: 6-8 April, 2018
- Semifinals: 14-16 September, 2018
- Final: 23-25 November, 2018
2018 Davis Cup Finals Draw
The 2017 Davis Cup Final Tie will be played between France and Belgium. Photo by Davis Cup Twitter
2017 Davis Cup Semifinals Results
- Belgium def. Australia 3-2
- France def. Serbia 3-1
2018 Davis Cup Results: Quarterfinals
- Belgium def. Italy 3 – 2
- Australia def. United States 3 – 2
- France def. Great Britain 3 – 2
- Serbia def. Spain 4 – 1
2017 Davis Cup Results: First Round
- Italy def. Argentina 3-2
- Belgium def. Germany 4-1
- Australia def. Czech Repuclic 4-1
- USA def. Switzerland 5-0
- France def. Japan 4-1
- Great Britain def. Canada 3-2
- Serbia def. Russia 4-1
- Spain def. Croatia 3-2
This leaves 8 more ties that make up the Quarter Finals for the 2017 Davis Cup which will run from April 7th – 9th.
The Quarter Final Matches for the 2017 Tournament. Photo by Davis Cup on Twitter
2017 Davis Cup World Group Seeds and Participating Teams
There are a total of 16 teams participating in the world group for the 2017 Davis Cup with defending Champions Argentina topping the seeds. Australia sits among seven other unseeded teams to round off the group.
- Argentina
- Croatia
- Great Britain
- Czech Republic
- Switzerland
- France
- Belgium
- Serbia
Unseeded Teams
- Australia
- United States
- Japan
- Spain
- Russia
- Canada
- Italy
- Germany
Davis Cup Groups & Teams
The premier Group is the World Group made up of 16 countries / teams.
The premier Davis Cup Group is the World Group that consists of 16 participating teams, eight of which are seeded for the tournament. In total there are 130 national Davis Cup teams in the tournament, a far cry from the inaugural clash between Great Britain and the United States over a century ago when the event was known as the International Lawn Tennis Challenge. Davis Cup team rankings are determined by the ITF ranking system and each year the defending champion and the runner-up are the top two seeds in the competition. The teams that play outside of the World Group, which is made up of the best 16 national teams, compete in one of three regional zones: Americas, Asia/Oceania and Europe/Africa.
The Groups are divided into five levels:
| Level |
Davis Cup Group(s) |
No. of Countries |
| 1 |
World Group |
16 |
| 2 |
Group 1 Americas Zone |
6 |
| 2 |
Group 1 Europe/Africa Zone |
12 |
| 2 |
Group 1 Asia/Oceania Zone |
6 |
| 3 |
Group 2 Americas Zone |
8 |
| 3 |
Group 2 Europe/Africa Zone |
16 |
| 3 |
Group 2 Asia/Oceania Zone |
8 |
| 4 |
Group 3 Americas Zone |
9 |
| 4 |
Group 3 Europe Zone |
16 |
| 4 |
Group 3 Africa Zone |
16 |
| 4 |
Group 3 Asia/Oceania Zone |
8 |
| 5 |
Group 4 Asia/Oceania Zone |
9 |
Davis Cup Past Winners & Records
With their win in 2015, Great Britain broke a 79-year Davis Cup drought. Photo by Keith Prowse
The United States boast the most Davis Cup titles with 32 victories in the competition over its long history. The USA has also finished runners-up a further 29 times and their last win was in 2007.
Australia is the second most successful team in the history books with 28 winning titles and 19 seconds in the Davis Cup final, with their last victory being in 2003.
Australia also boast the all-time record of most consecutive Finals appearances with 23 from 1946 – 68. In 2015 Great Britain secured their 10th title breaking a 79-year-drought to be crowned the World Champion team and their first in the Open Era that started in 1968
| Country |
Wins |
Last final won |
Runners-up |
Last final lost |
| United States |
32 |
2007 |
29 |
2004 |
| Australia |
28 |
2003 |
19 |
2001 |
| Great Britain |
10 |
2015 |
8 |
1978 |
| France |
9 |
2001 |
8 |
2014 |
| Sweden |
7 |
1998 |
5 |
1996 |
| Spain |
5 |
2011 |
4 |
2012 |
| Germany |
3 |
1993 |
2 |
1985 |
| Czech Republic |
3 |
2013 |
2 |
2009 |
| Russia |
2 |
2006 |
3 |
2007 |
| Italy |
1 |
1976 |
6 |
1998 |
| Argentina |
1 |
2016 |
4 |
2011 |
| Serbia |
1 |
2010 |
1 |
2013 |
| Switzerland |
1 |
2014 |
1 |
1992 |
| Croatia |
1 |
2005 |
1 |
2016 |
| South Africa |
1 |
1974 |
0 |
— |
The only countries to boast titles in both the Men’s Davis Cup and Women’s Fed Cup in the same year are the United States, Australia and the Czech Republic. Along with the most titles overall, the United States also hold the record for most consecutive title victories claiming seven straight from 1920-26.
The Czech Republic and America boast the highest number of years in the Davis Cup World Group (35) followed by France (34) and Germany (33)
- Most Titles: United States (32)
- Most Consecutive Titles: United States (7)
- Most Consecutive Finals Appearances: Australia (23)
- Most Year in World Group: Czech Republic and USA (35)
Looking at the overall performances by continent, Europe have won 43 titles and finished runners-up 46 times. This is followed by North America (32 wins) and Oceania (28 wins). Africa has enjoyed one title while South America and Asia have finished runners-up five and four times respectively but are yet to win the championship.
Davis Cup Performance by Continent
| Continent |
Wins |
Runners-up |
| Europe |
43 |
47 |
| North America |
32 |
30 |
| Oceania |
28 |
19 |
| South America |
1 |
5 |
| Africa |
1 |
0 |
| Asia |
0 |
4 |
There are also a host of other records for individual players including Roy Emerson for Australia who boasts eight titles for his country (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967).
Australia’s Harry Hopman boasts the most titles as captain with 16 victories (1939, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967).