He also showed his "clutchness" in that year's final by gutting out a five-set win over Juan Martin Del Potro to give Spain a lead after Friday's singles. Ferrer barely misses out on the top 10 partly due to his lack of doubles play and also because, considering Rafael Nadal 's greatness and Spain's depth, his presence was arguably not essential to his team's victory in the final.
In , a Davis Cup assignment didn't get much tougher than defeating Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and the Bryan twins in the United States, yet that was what big-serving Ivan Ljubicic needed to do just to send Croatia into the second round.
He got that tie off to a great start by blitzing the eight-time Slam champ—and U. Open finalist—in straight sets in the first round. He then teamed with Mario Ancic to take the doubles point with a win over Mike and Bob Bryan, who would go on to become the winningest team in Grand Slam history. If that wasn't enough, he wrapped up that upset by stunning the then-world's No.
The only blemish on his Davis Cup season was a big one, however, as he lost in the final to Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty in five sets when trying to clinch the title. He still won two of his three matches, though, and Mario Ancic wrapped up victory for Croatia with a straight-set win in the final rubber.
The Davis Cup represents perhaps the best opportunity in tennis for unheralded players to shine. And perhaps no player in Davis Cup history took advantage of that formatting quirk and of his golden opportunity to be a national hero than Nicolas Escude in After not even competing for France in the first round, the 34th-ranked Escude scored a four-set win over "future GOAT" Roger Federer in Switzerland before clinching that quarterfinal tie with a victory over George Bastl in the fifth set.
That performance earned him a spot in France's lineup against the Netherlands in the semifinals and Escude responded again with another in-the-fifth triumph over Sjeng Schalken in Rotterdam. Then, to fully secure his place in Davis Cup lore, Escude stunned the reigning U.
Open champion and world's No. France's Four Musketeers formed one of the most invincible squads in Davis Cup history, winning six straight titles from to , five of them coming in "challenge round" victories on red clay at Stade de Roland Garros. It took one of the greatest tennis players of all time to finally end that run, but Britain's Fred Perry was up to the task. In an up-and-down decisive fifth match in the Davis Cup final, Perry nearly went down two sets to love against Andre Merlin, but, according to Bud Collins' Total Tennis : The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia , he caught fire just in time to stave off two set points and turn the match around.
He then clinched the match , , , despite blowing a lead in the fourth set. Tennis' growth as a sport in the years after World War II was hurt by the absence of the greatest players from the biggest tournaments, including Davis Cup. That shouldn't take away, however, from what Neale Fraser managed to accomplish in the season. Compiling a record in singles and a record in doubles, he carried future all-time great Rod Laver, Australia's "other" singles player that year, to the title.
Laver lost both of his singles matches in the challenge round in Forest Hills against the defending champion United States, but Fraser did the heavy lifting by knocking off the previous year's hero, Alex Olmedo, in the opening match, combining with Roy Emerson to win the doubles and returning the Cup to Australia with a four-set victory over Barry MacKay in the reverse singles.
A year before becoming the first player in tennis history to win the Grand Slam, Don Budge put together one of the great Davis Cup performances in the competition's history. With war looming on the horizon, it was the Inter-Zonal match against Germany that proved the most memorable, especially Budge's showdown against Gottfried Von Cramm in the final match.
The American rallied from a deficit in the fifth set to claim victory on his sixth match point, winning what Bill Tilden—the captain of the German team! Budge later capped off his great year by winning both singles matches and the doubles match in the challenge round against Great Britain.
The closest he ever came was a semifinal appearance in , when he lost to eventual champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Not so well remembered, though, is that Sampras easily defeated Kafelnikov on clay a few months earlier in single-handedly leading the United States to victory over Russia in the Davis Cup final. In his first singles match, he overcame severe leg cramps to eke out a five-set victory over Andrei Chesnokov.
Two days later, he dismantled a passive Kafelnikov to clinch the Davis Cup victory on his worst surface. From to , Cochet compiled a record in Davis Cup singles and doubles action—most of it taking place in challenge round action on the terre battue at Roland Garros.
Of all his achievements, however, his success in the competition stands out the most. The French had just wrested the Davis Cup away from the United States the previous year, despite Cochet having lost to Tilden in the singles.
The 12 winning nations advanced to the Finals where they will be joined by the four semi-finalists from the Finals Spain, Canada, Great Britain and Russia as well as two wild cards France and Serbia. The six group winners and two best-performing group runners-up will advance to the knockout phase of the competition.
The Austrian city of Innsbruck and Italian city of Turin have been selected to host the Finals alongside Madrid after submitting successful bids.
Each city will host two of the six groups, with Madrid staging two quarter-finals, and Innsbruck and Turin one quarter-final each. The Spanish capital will also host the semi-finals and final. Click here to see Frequently Asked Questions. Competition draw Surface: Hard Court Twenty-four teams competed in the Davis Cup by Rakuten Qualifiers the 6—7 March , with the ties played under a home-and-away format.
All Qualifiers info and results, here. Groups for the Group Stage phase after the official draw ceremony: The six group winners and two best-performing group runners-up will advance to the knockout phase of the competition.
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