History
Four members of the Harvard tennis team went on a West Coast tour in 1899, winning all but two of their matches, and on their train trip back to the East they discussed the idea of taking on the British.
After the U. S. and British Lawn Tennis association agreed to such a match, one of the Harvard players, Dwight F. Davis, drew up the format and spent $700 on a trophy, a sterling silver bowl, washed in gold, 13 inches high and 18 inches in diameter.
Davis's plan called for three days of competition, with two singles matches on the first day, a doubles match on the second, and two more singles matches on the third day. It required that a team could name only two singles players, who would have to compete on both days. That format hasn't changed.
The first Davis Cup match was held at the Longwood Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1900. The Americans surprised the British by winning the first three matches. Davis won his singles match and teamed with Holcombe Ward in the doubles victory.
Even though the U. S. had clinched the cup, the final two matches were supposed to be played. Davis beat Arthur Gore, 9-7, in the first set and it was decided to call off play with the second set tied, 9-9. Since then, play has ended after either country has won three matches.
There was no play in 1901, but the British returned in 1902 and won two of the first three matches, only to lose the last two. The following year, brothers Reginald and Laurie Doherty led the British to their first victory.
Belgium, Austria, and France joined the competition in 1904 and Australasia, a combined team from Australia and New Zealand, entered in 1905. The International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy had become a true international trophy, as Davis had hoped it would.
By 1920, there was no room on the original bowl to record the names of any more results, so Davis spent another $400 on a large silver tray as an addition to the trophy. After Davis died in 1945, the trophy was renamed the Davis Cup in his memory.
The competition originally used the challenge round system, in which the challenging countries played an elimination tournament to determine which team would enter the final round against the defending champion.
Since 1972, the defending champion has also had to play in the tournament, rather than getting a free pass to the finals. Because of the proliferation of tennis-playing nations, the number of entries was limited in 1981 to the top 16 nations in the world.
