The Davis Cup

Davis Cup

The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...

 tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 competition is structured around a number of groups, with promotion and relegation between them.

At the top is the World Group, which competes in a knockout competition. Below that it becomes regional, with an American Zone, Euro/African Zone and Asia/Oceania Zone. Each of these zones contains four groups. The upper two groups play a knock out competition, while the lower two groups play a round robin competition. The winner(s) of each group are promoted to the one above, while the losers are relegated to the one below. There are two exceptions: Group Four countries are not relegated (as there is nowhere for them to go) and Group One winners play-off against losers of the World Group first round to decide who will be in the World Group next year.

2009

2009 Davis Cup

The 2009 Davis Cup was the 98th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. Sixteen teams participated in the World Group and more than one hundred other took part in different regional groups. Spain won their fourth title...

 structure

Level	Group(s)
1	World Group 16 countries
2	Group One American Zone 6 countries	Group One Euro/African Zone 9 countries	Group One Asia/Oceania Zone 9 countries
3	Group Two American Zone 8 countries	Group Two Euro/African Zone 16 countries	Group Two Asia/Oceania Zone 8 countries
4	Group Three American Zone 8 countries	Group Three Euro/African Zone 16 countries	Group Three Asia/Oceania Zone 8 countries
5	Group Four American Zone 5 countries	Group Four Euro/African Zone 5 countries	Group Four Asia/Oceania Zone 10 countries

Current structure (2010

2010 Davis Cup

The 2010 Davis Cup was the 99th edition of the most important annual tournament among national teams in men's tennis worldwide...

)

Level	Group(s)
1	World Group 16 countries
2	Group One American Zone 5 countries	Group One Euro/African Zone 11 countries		Group One Asia/Oceania Zone 8 countries
3	Group Two American Zone 8 countries	Group Two Euro/African Zone 16 countries		Group Two Asia/Oceania Zone 8 countries
4	Group Three American Zone 8 countries	Group Three European Zone 9 countries (provisional)	Group Three African Zone 12 countries (provisional)	Group Three Asia/Oceania Zone 8 countries
5	Group Four American Zone 5 countries (provisional)			Group Four Asia/Oceania Zone 10 countries (provisional)

Note: The total number of nations in Group One is 24. However, the distribution between the three zones may vary each year, according to the number of nations promoted or relegated between Group One and the World Group. The number of nations in the World Group and Group One together is 22 from Euro/African Zone, 9 from Americas Zone and 9 from Asia/Oceania Zone.

External links

• Davis Cup Structure from the official site