Great Britain wins Davis Cup
View(s):The first time Great Britain won the Davis-Cup was in 1903. It was the third year after the inauguration of the annual Cup tie between England and the USA.
The last time Great Britain won, was in 1936. On that occasion the famous English Tennis icon FredPerry stood next to the cup. Since then British Tennis has not been in the pinnacle and it has taken 79 years for another British team to stand next to the Davis-Cup as the winners.
England won the 2015 Davis-Cup and the man who made it happen, is Andy Murray the world’s number two and made the Union Jack flutter.
Davis-Cup, with its two pronged approach for sport and diplomacy was started by American statesman Dwight F. Davis. In 1900 it was only between England and USA. It has grown to 126 in 2015.
Until the professional bodies ATP and the WTA world rankings appeared in mid eighties, it was the Davis-Cup that kept the ‘Tennis fire’ burning around the globe.
The recognition of players earlier was based on the performances of the four Grand-Slam events and the winners of the Davis-Cup.
Although there were many events, there was nothing at stake in them. ATP and WTA changed that by issuing ranking points to events globally which contributed to the annual world rankings.
Murray levels with Fred Perry
The effort of Andy Murray is well worth felicitating. He has sustained his strength as a player to contribute and win the Davis-Cup well over seven to eight years. His older brother Jamie Murray is a well known doubles player and holds 7th position in doubles.
Brothers’ teamed up well to win doubles which is often the deciding factor in Davis-Cup ties. Record shows that UK won the run-up-years and the Davis-Cup this year mainly due to Andy Murray’s singles performance and his combination with his brother in doubles.
The second singles player in the British team is 20 year old Kyle Edmund, ranked 102. He did well pulling out some good wins this year.
This must have been one of Andy Murray’s most hectic years of his life. He is world’s number two and that takes a lot to be there. It is his first year as a husband and now a father. Then, to bring the Davis-Cup home almost single handedly must have made many personal sacrifices.
Of course he has now written an un-erasable chapter in the British sporting history and stands in level with Fred Perry from now on.
Belgian team
In the final, UK beat Belgium which also has 94 years of Davis-Cup history. They reached the finals once before in 1904, then too they lost to the British Isles.
At present they are ranked number four in the Davis-Cup ranking. Currently their best player is David Goffin ranked 16. The lanky tall right hander has swiping strokes most suited for European red clay courts.
He is much feared as he is capable of beating anyone in the top ten on a given day. He also has a doubles ranking. Ruben Belemans aged 27 is ranked 109 in singles and 163 in doubles and is the second strongest player from Belgium.
Belgium opted to play 31 year old Steve Darcis in doubles ranked only 600, instead of Belemans, to keep him fresh for the reverse singles if Goffin won the match against Andy Murray but that did not come to past.
Sri Lanka and Davis Cup
Even in Sri Lanka the felicitation of players in the 100th year affiliation of SLTA to ITF was weighted towards Davis-Cup achievements of the country. Davis-Cup is our sole connection to international Tennis.
Being a team event nationally it is more appealing. Currently we have no players in the first 1000 of the world ranking.
When it comes to Davis-Cup, Sri Lanka has settled down to a modest target of reaching the Group 2 semi-final as our goal. That is to say, to remain in the group.
Even this seems to be a ‘Herculean’ task for us. Davis-Cup ranking is not an open-system but is based on points awarded on a regional basis controlled by the ITF – the franchise holders of Davis-Cup trademark.
Currently, Sri Lanka holds the position of being 63rd in the world. The aim of every Davis-Cup competition is to lift the cup and this can be only done playing in the World-Group. Only a limited number of countries play for the Davis-Cup itself and all others play for promotion into a higher group.
Open era Issue
The open-era refers to the period when Tennis professionals were allowed to play in all events. Until 1969 it was not so. Davis-Cup stemmed the popularity of Tennis for over a century but is facing participatory issues with professionals now.
The classic case of this is Switzerland. Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka after winning the Davis-Cup for Switzerland in 2014 were not available in 2015.
As a result, Switzerland lost in the very first round. It has been the same with Serbia and the Czech Republic. UK will have a good Christmas and hope Santa will provide Andy Murray for the team in 2016 as well!
George Paldano, Former int.
player; Accredited Coach of
Germany; National, Davis-Cup,
Federation Cup coach–.
gptennis.ceylon@gmail.com