Our historyGreat Britain has won the competition on nine occasions, five of those as the British Isles and all of them coming prior to the Second World War. The main period of Britain’s dominance was between 1933 and 1936, where the team was led by Fred Perry and Bunny Austin.
Wins
1936 Great Britain 3 2 Australia
1936 Great Britain 3 2 Australia
1935 Great Britain 5 0 USA
1934 Great Britain 4 1 USA
1933 Great Britain 3 2 France
1912 British Isles 3 2 Australasia
1906 British Isles 5 0 USA
1905 British Isles 5 0 USA
1904 British Isles 5 0 Belgium
1903 British Isles 4 1 USA
Britain also finished runners up on ten occasions, nine of those between 1900 and 1937 but since then the side has only made the final in 1978, where they lost 4-1 to USA, with the likes of John Lloyd, David Lloyd, Buster Mottram and Mark Cox.
Other than a semi final in 1981 Britain have since always been on the fringes of the World Group and are now even further away from it than they have been following five straight defeats.
The poor results have now meant that the team have to defeat Turkey to avoid dropping into the lowest tier of the competition for the first time in their 110 year history in the Davis Cup.
The poor results have now meant that the team have to defeat Turkey to avoid dropping into the lowest tier of the competition for the first time in their 110 year history in the Davis Cup.
Run of bad form
07/03/2010 Lithuania2-3 LTU Hard - Indoors EPA G2 1st Round
20/09/2009 Poland2-3 GBR Hard - Indoors EPA G1 PO Semifinals
08/03/2009 Ukraine1-4GBR Hard - Indoors EPA G1 Quarterfinals
21/09/2008 Austria2-3 GBR Grass - Outdoors WG PO 1st Round
10/02/2008 Argentina1-4 ARG Clay - Outdoors WG 1st Round
Davis Cup format
The Davis Cup is made up of four divisions with the World Group as the highest point and Group III as the lowest.
Bellow the World Group the nations compete in Zonal Competitions, which are split into three zones: the Americas Zone, the Asia/Oceania Zone and the Europe/Africa Zone.
Currently, Great Britain are in the Europe/Africa Zone Group II play-offs trying to avoid dropping into the Europe/Africa Zone III. If worse scenario was to occur then Britain will find themselves playing tiny nations such as San Marino and Andorra.
Without Andy Murray
One of the main reasons Britain finds itself in the position it is in now is due to the lack of depth within British men’s tennis at the moment. Other than Murray, who is world ranked no4, the second next best player is Alex Bogdanovic at 163. Unfortunately down to different reason they have both opted out from participating in the next tie against Turkey.
Murray’s decision was down to the fact that he felt that the team had been too relient on his participation and thought that by not putting himself up for selection for the meantime, would allow some of the other British players to gain confidence boosting wins without him.
Meanwhile, Bogdanovic’s decision has been partly down to the lack of confidence shown in him by the Lawn Tennis Association, who at the beginning of the year dropped the British no2 from elite funding.
This now leaves Britain with their third and fourth ranked players, Jamie Baker and James Ward, who have been left to pull the team out of the hole it finds itself in. However one bonus that looks like emerging is the doubles pairing of Ken Skupski and Colin Fleming, who are making tremendous strides on the circuit and could become a permanent fixture even if and when Murray comes back into the side.
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