Davis Cup Tennis

Taken from: The Davis Cup: Celebrating 100 Years of International Tennis

Author: Richard Evans

Saluting Our Davis Cup Greats

If you think of any tennis giants from any generation in the game, you can safely bet that they were Davis Cup dynamos for their country. Throughout the history of Davis Cup, which started one summer day in August at Boston's Longwood Cricket Club in 1900, almost all the greats of the sport enthusiastically participated in the international team competition that pits nations against other nations in a battle for supremacy. When Davis Cup first came into being only Great Britain answered the call to challenge for the Cup. In 1999, as the multi-tiered silver trophy observes its 100th Anniversary, there are 129 nations that answer the call to Davis Cup action.

The first US Team: Malcom Whitman, Dwight F. Davis, Holcombe Ward

From the time that Harvard student Dwight Filley Davis created the celebrated competition, there's been a cornucopia of distinguished names to grace the courts for the glory of their homelands. Among the famous racket wielders who've made Davis Cup a priority in their careers are: Davis, the Doherty brothers, Norman Brookes, Henri Cochet, Rene Lacoste, Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Fred Perry, Bill Tilden, William Johnston, Ted Schroeder, Don Budge, Lew Hoad, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Nicola Pietrangeli, Tony Trabert, Vic Seixas, Anthony Wilding, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe, John McEnroe, Yannick Noah, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Andre Agassi.

It would take a book to talk about all the tennis titans who's stardom was enhanced by their Davis Cup involvement, so below are just a few of the main men who have helped make the Davis Cup an enduring athletic event. Italy's Nikki Pietrangeli, these days a handsome gentleman with a shock of white hair and a two-time titlist at Roland Garros, is one of the eminent Davis Cup Ambassadors during this festive year commemorating the competition's Centenary year.

Pietrangeli, a star of the game in the late 1950's and early 60's, was rightly elevated to this lofty stature since it is his honor to be the most prolific Davis Cup player of all time, having participated in both the most Davis Cup matches and the most Davis Cup ties. Pietrangeli, who captained the winning efforts of Italy over Chile in 1976, played 164 matches in 66 ties for his country.

"In tennis, only Davis Cup gives you this opportunity to belong to a team," said Pietrangeli, at the 1998 Davis Cup final that Italy lost to Sweden. "It's not only you, there's many people. If you become friends with everybody, I think it's a great experience. Really, when you play Davis Cup and you play on a team, it's something different. That's what makes Davis Cup such an unbelievable event."

The 4 Musketeers

The 4 Musketeers: Rene Lacoste, Henri Cochet, Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon

Known forever in tennis circles as "The Four Musketeers," Rene Lacoste, Henri Cochet, Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon led France to their first Davis Cup success by winning the revered competition for six years straight between 1927 to 1932. Lacoste, known as the "Crocodile" a symbol embroidered on the tennis outfits he wore and to this day a recognized emblem on the popular clothing line that bears his name, played in 26 Davis Cup ties, securing a 40-11 winning record.

Cochet was considered the top player in the game for a period of five years in the '20's and was known for his lightning fast speed in covering the court and ability to hit shots effortlessly. He played 26 Davis Cup ties in a period of 11 years and his 34-8 record in singles and 10-6 record in doubles gave him an overall 44-14 Davis Cup result.

Borotra was the showboat of the foursome and his Davis Cup career spanned 17 years for a 36-18 overall record. While not exclusively a tandem player, Brugnon's reputation was definitely tied to doubles. A steady, but not flashy player, Brugnon favored the deuce side of the court, claiming he possessed a weak backhand. His services were called upon for Davis Cup duty on 31 different occasions in an 11 year period, making for a 26-11 winning effort.

In an article written by Lacoste and titled "A Quest for the Cup," the Frenchman described the unbelievable sensation of finally beating the U.S. in 1927 to bring the Cup home to France for the first time. The "Musketeers" had failed at the mission in the Challenge round against the Americans in the previous two years. "Victory!" Lacoste said. "A simple word. So short -- and yet how expressive. The end of an effort begun in 1922: so many matches played in all the countries of the world, so many endless thousands of miles traveled over, so many hopes shattered as soon as formed and today finally realized. The Atlantic crossed and recrossed seven times. Months and months passed in dreaming of this day! "And at last it had come."

The land "Down Under" has also produced quite a sensational band of blokes to wave the flag bearing the Southern Cross, including Lew Hoad, Harry Hopman, John Newcombe, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Frank Sedgman, and Fred Stolle. But certainly the first true Australian Davis Cup star to guide his country to triumph was Norman Brookes, who started his nine year Davis Cup career in 1905 when Australia and New Zealand competed as Australasia with Kiwi Tony Wilding as the other antipodean star.

Brookes, who was later knighted, was the first player in the game to take the ball on the rise, a style which has certainly made Agassi famous at the other end of the 20th Century. Following a Davis Cup career that ended with a 28-11 winning record which included stints on six winning Australasia squads, Brookes went on to a 29-year presidency of the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia.

Brookes' wife, Dame Mabel, obviously didn't appreciate the value of the Davis Cup as much as her husband, and described the bowls frequent stays in their home, saying, "He brought the (Davis) Cup back in his luggage with his other cups. You had to do everything yourself in those days. "Nobody much wanted the Cup. It used to sit on our sideboard, and it was so big, it dwarfed everything else. Nothing looked any good at all alongside that darned bath. We put red peonies in it."

By the time Fred Perry brought the Davis Cup back to Britain in 1933, marking the first time the coveted trophy returned to Britain since 1912, the Cup wasn't making its home in players living quarters anymore. There was no doubt that Perry was the greatest Englishman to come to tennis since the Doherty brothers -- Laurie and Reggie -- helped win the Cup for Britain between 1903 and 1906. To this day, Perry holds the record for the most total wins of any Englishman in Davis Cup at 45-7.

When Perry, a son of a Labour member of Parliament, became the first British subject to win Wimbledon since Arthur Gore in 1909 by beating Australian Jack Crawford in 1934, for his first of three consecutive Wimbledon titles, he was quoted as saying, "If I live to be 100, I'll never play so well again." That personal opinion was flawed as Perry went on to help Britain to two more Davis Cup victories and to amass a total of eight Grand Slam trophies.

To this day, even as tennis pundits ponder whether Pete Sampras should be considered the best player to ever play the game, there are still plenty of tennis experts insisting "Big" Bill Tilden is the greatest player who ever lived. Tilden, along with another American, Bill Johnston, who was often referred to as "Little Bill" led the U.S. to Davis Cup supremacy between 1920 and 1926. Both Tilden and Johnston began their Davis Cup careers in 1920, with "Big" Bill playing in 17 ties over 11 years and "Little" Bill playing in 10 ties over an eight year period. Tilden had a 34-7 overall Davis Cup record, while Johnston had an 18-3 overall result.

Tilden still holds the U.S. record for most appearances in a Davis Cup final with 11 journeys to the Challenge round for a 21-7 winning edge in finals. When Tilden was 56-years-old he wrote an article entitled "A Viewpoint of the Game" in which he stated the benefits of tennis include helping someone to keep physically fit and that the sport bridges the gap between different cultures.

In his reminiscing, Tilden said, "It was just half a century ago that I lifted a tennis racket for the first time and, with dire results, hit my first tennis ball. There was something about the delightful sound of ball on gut, even if slightly marred by the jingle of glass from the broken window, that entered my soul with a never-to-be forgotten thrill...I urge you play tennis! Tennis is the most valuable sport that any individual can learn, even more so than golf. It is the most universally played of all athletics, and its rules are the same the world over."

Another American, Don Budge, was referred to as "The Redhead" and is forever known as the first man, and the only man besides Rod Laver, to win the Grand Slam -- taking the titles at the Nationals of Australia, France Britain and the U.S. in 1938. Budge played Davis Cup for only four years, but achieved a 25-4 record in 11 ties played, and was on the successful 1937 and 1938 final teams.

Famed New York Times reporter Allison Danzig wrote that Budge turned down a professional contract that guaranteed him $50,000 or more to compete for his country as an amateur for one last year in 1938. "He thought he owed it to amateur tennis, in return for all it had done for him and the opportunity it had given him to see the world, become famous and make something of himself, to remain an amateur for another year and help defend the Cup the United States had been so long in regaining," Danzig reported.

In later generations, John McEnroe gained a reputation as an innately gifted athlete and the premiere "Superbrat" on the tennis court. He also became revered for his dedication to waving the Stars & Stripes as a regular Davis Cup participant. His Davis Cup record is the most impressive of any Yanks -- his 12 years of service is the most of any other of his compatriots, as is the fact that his 30 ties is the most played, his 59-10 record is the most total wins, his 41-8 record is the most singles wins, and at 14-1 he and Peter Fleming were the best ever American Davis Cup doubles team.

Recently, McEnroe, the player who always said "I will go anywhere, any time To play Davis Cup for America," has been openly critical of today's top U.S. players ignoring the call to Davis Cup duty and is even expressing a desire to return to Davis Cup service, himself. An active player on the Nuveen Masters tour, McEnroe surprisingly picks his appearance in the 1992 final where the U.S. beat Switzerland 3-1 in Texas as his favorite Davis Cup moment.

"The 92 tie where I played just doubles," said McEnroe, a member of five of the record 31 victorious U.S. Davis Cup squads. "Being part of what I consider to be a legendary team with Pete (Sampras), Andre (Agassi) and Jim (Courier), and going through the divorce (from ex-wife Tatum O'Neal) I'd just begun, I was feeling emotionally not really capable of playing. I think perhaps that that could be maybe my greatest emotional moment, to be able to be part of that squad."

But, of course, the first and foremost hero of Davis Cup would have to be Dwight Davis, for without his dream the tennis stars of yesterday, today and the future would not have the shiny sterling cup he donated back in the beginning of the century to try and claim for their nations. While Davis only competed for what often was called "Dwight's pot" for two years securing a 2-1 career Davis Cup record, he did lead the U.S. to victory in the first two Challenge rounds ever contested in 1900 and 1902.

Nevertheless, without Davis many of the most cherished moments in the annals of tennis would never have taken place. And even shortly before his death in 1946, after a long career as a statesman that included roles as the Secretary of War for President Calvin Coolidge and as Governor-general of the Philippines, Davis was dedicated to the survival of his Davis Cup. Davis told Sir Norman Brookes, by then the president of the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia, that his vision for the Davis Cup must not be forgotten, saying, "It is meant to travel. Its appearance in any country brings a flock of exterior implications very beneficial to sporting unity in the tennis world and the tennis world is a big world."