Great Britain Davis Cup team
| Great Britain | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Association | Lawn Tennis Association |
| Confederation | Tennis Europe |
| Captain | Leon Smith |
| ITF ranking | |
| Current ranking | 2  1(26 November 2016) |
| Highest ranking | 1 (30 November 2015) |
| First international | |
 United States 3–0  British Isles(Longwood Cricket Club, Boston, Massachusetts, United States; 8–10 August 1900) |
|
| Biggest win | |
| 5–0 (15–0 sets, 96–16 games) versus Poland (Warsaw, Poland; 15–17 May 1925) |
|
| World Group | |
| Appearances | 16 |
| Best result | Champions, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1912, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 2015 |
| Player stats | |
The Great Britain Davis Cup team is the men's national tennis team and has represented the United Kingdom internationally since 1900. Organised by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), it is one of the 50 members of International Tennis Federation's European association (Tennis Europe). The United Kingdom team's performance has been inconsistent; it enjoyed its most successful periods in the 1910s and the 1930s, and has seen a resurgence in recent years.
The team has won the world cup 10 times and been runner-ups on 8 occasions. It has longstanding rivalries with Australia and the United States. The national team took part in the inaugural Davis Cup in 1900, and has spent 16 years in the World Group. They are the third most successful team in terms of championships won.
Under the current management of Leon Smith, the national team qualified to the World Group in 2013, won the title in 2015, reached the semifinals of the in 2016.
Great Britain's first match, and first ever national team match in history, was a 0–3 loss to the United States in 1900. The tournament was not organised in 1901, and lost the following year, but one the competition for the first time in 1903. The national team would go on to dominate the competition, winning the next three tournaments.
The postwar period saw moderate results, but British fortunes declined until the appointment of 31-year old Paul Hutchins as captain in 1976. He would captain the team for 10 years, and lead the team in 31 ties (a record). He would lead Great Britain to the final in 1978, defeating Australia 3–2 in the semifinal, only to lose to the United States 1–4. Despite losing in the final, the team won (alongside the women's Wightman Cup team) the BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award. Likewise, it was the first time the LTA promoted the event. According to The Guardian "Britain has seen a decline in its Davis Cup fortunes ever since [the final]." The next two years saw mixed results, but in in 1981 the team reached the semifinals, losing to Australia. It would be their last semifinal until 2015.
...
Wikipedia