The coming to be of the ‘Davis Cup’

Richard Dwight

Cricket, rugger and soccer in that order, do enjoy quite a backing here in this country.

Especially from the indispensable sponsors, along with the print as well as the electronic media. They give these sports a lift as well as a boost, for perhaps the greater cause for the common good.

So much so, for reasons of their own, they seize opportunities to do everything possible to make these sports come alive, to be as colourful to be flamboyant with cricket leading the way.

Even as we say this, disheartment sets in as we dwell on the game of tennis, as it in a lack lustre manner meanders along here in our land.

Comparatively, for the reason that tennis here lacks much following locally, experiences a dearth of sponsors and yet other minor setbacks, acknowledged it is, that tennis is a game of charm and elegance, which provides leisure and pleasure along with the much needed physical exercise the body so requires - not forgetting as well the promoting and fostering of standards in tennis, to develop a highly competitive spirit.

All this is, to the credit of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association, which despite an odd reverse here and there, has kept the sport of tennis moving along.

Currently the SLTA without much fanfare or fuss in gearing itself to host the Davis Cup (group 2) squad from New Zealand. They will be here this week, to fulfill their Davis Cup tie in this group against Sri Lanka from March 5 to 7 at the SLTA courts. It will be a great relief for those here deprived of seeing international players in action.

Especially with the young in mind the coming to be of the acclaimed ‘Davis Cup’ does merit a brief narrative here.

It must surely have been in the fitness of things and the farsighted thinking of Dwight Filley Davis, a Harvard student, that led him in 1900 to present the ‘Davis Cup’ for competition.

Davis must have been quite a man to be one time U.S. secretary of war and, end up as the Governor General of the Philippines.

The inauguration of the cup took place in Boston, when the first match was played between the United States and the British isles. The thinking however was always there, that this international lawn tennis championship would be open to any nation with a recognised Lawn Tennis Association and, so all major tennis countries began taking part.

In those earlier years the competition was dominated by the United States, the British and Australasia. No other nations reached the challenger round until 1921 when Japan, the newcomers to the event, surprised the rest of the tennis world by going through to meet the United States in the final in New York.

France was a dominant force in the late 1920s mainly through four great players in Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet Rene Lacoste and Toto Brughon. Intermittently the United States and France have been the winners, until Fred Perry led the British to success in 1933. Thereafter USA reigned, with Italy too chipping in.

The abolition of the challenge round in 1971 - the system by which the holder stayed out of the competition until a challenger emerged - gave more opportunity to other nations and since then South Africa, Sweden, Italy and Czechoslovakia have added their names to the list of winners.

However the United States with 27 victories and Australia with 17 in their own right and a further six with the assistance of New Zealand still lead the roll of champion nations.

Lest we forget it must be mentioned that the world group with 16 nations is the pinnacle of the competition. The remaining nations compete in groups 1-IV, divided across three regional zones. Americas, Asia/Oceanic and Europe/Africa.