Australia Davis Cup team
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| Australia | ||
| Image:Flag of Australia.svg | ||
| Captain | John Fitzgerald | |
| Coach | Darren Cahill | |
| ITF ranking | 6 | |
| Colors | green and gold | |
| First year | 1905 | |
| Years played | 88 | |
| Ties played (W-L) | 230 (170-60) | |
| Years in World Group | 26 (46-22) | |
| Davis Cup titles | 28 | |
| Runners-up | 18 | |
| Most total wins | Adrian Quist (43-13) | |
| Most singles wins | Lleyton Hewitt (29-8) | |
| Most doubles wins | Todd Woodbridge (25-7) | |
| Best doubles team | Mark Woodforde/Todd Woodbridge (14-2) | |
| Most ties played | Todd Woodbridge (32) | |
| Most years played | Tood Woodbridge (14) | |
The Australia Davis Cup Team is the second most successful Davis Cup team ever to compete in the Davis Cup, winning the coveted Davis Cup title on 28 separate occasions, second behind United States on 31.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] The Beginning
The Australian Davis Cup Team spent their first eight years as a part of Australasia which consisted of players from Australia and New Zealand winning four Davis Cup titles. In 1913 Australia became an independent competitor in the Davis Cup and won the title the very next year.
[edit] Dominance
From the era of 1937 to 1973 the only teams to win the Davis Cup were Australia and USA, in which 35 times were between one another. Australia won the Davis Cup title 16 times between these years in 1939, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1973.
[edit] Present
After the 1973 victory Australia would go on to win the title another 5 times, between 1999 and 2003 Australia got into the Final Round 4 times in 5 years but could only convert on these opportunities twice in 1999 and 2003.
In 2003 after an inspirational semifinal against Switzerland where Lleyton Hewitt came back from two sets to love down against Roger Federer to come back and win in five sets in the fourth rubber, to clinch a Davis Cup Final berth. In the Final, Australia defeated Spain 3-1 in front of a home crowd in Melbourne Park in which Mark Phillipoussis defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero in five sets just months after Ferrero had reached the world number one ranking spot.
After Australia's 2003 win over Spain, Australia came into the 2004 Davis Cup with high hopes but the dreams were crushed when Sweden managed to beat Australia at home 4-1. Australia then had to play a world group Qualifying match against Morocco which they won 4-1. Australia solidified their spot in the 2005 Davis Cup world group and breezed through their first round against Austria 5-0. Argentina was their next round opponents and Australia started off well with Lleyton Hewitt playing Guillermo Coria and in a shocking display of sportsmanship Hewitt won in four sets in front of a home crowd in Sydney. But Australia could not hold the lead and ended up losing the rest of their matches.
Australia came into the 2006 Davis Cup with virtually an unknown team comprising Chris Guccione and Peter Luczak playing singles for Australia. Australia managed to defeat Switzerland 3-2 in the fifth rubber. Australia's quarterfinal was against Belarus in Melbourne and with Australia having Lleyton Hewitt back in the team Peter Luczak was the unlucky one that was not named in the team, Chris Guccione opened the first day of singles and pulled an upset against the highly ranked Max Mirnyi in five sets. Australia celebrated after the second day after winning all matches and securing a semifinal spot the first team to do so. Australia then went on to win the reverse singles making statement with a 5-0 victory over Belarus. Australia suffered a huge 5-0 loss to Argentina in the semifinals.
The 2007 Davis Cup could not have been any worse for Australia playing away in Belgium in their first tie against Belgium, losing their first two rubber Australia faced do or die in the doubles. Lleyton Hewitt was able to win both the doubles and his fourth rubber singles matches to bring the tie back to two all. Chris Guccione then lost in straight sets to put Australia in the world group playoffs. Australia drew Serbia in Serbia for their world group playoff and Serbia having two of their singles players in the top 100 were clear favorites. After day one the tie was drawn at one all Australia lost their doubles match in four sets and looked in a bad position. Things only got worse for Australia as their top player Lleyton Hewitt came down with sickness and could not compete in the final day. Australia eventually ended up losing 4-1 overall seeing Serbia into the world group for the first time, the result also saw Australia relegated for only the second time.
The 2008 Davis Cup sees Australia playing away for the fourth consecutive time, playing in Taiwan. Should Australia beat Taiwan they will be guarunteed a home rubber for the first time in almost two years.
[edit] Rivals
The Australian Davis Cup team has had on going feuds with different teams such as USA and Argentina.
[edit] Argentina
Australia's arch rival, as it has been dubbed, is Argentina, who have got the better of the Australians in their last three encounters and had a very controversial tie against them in Sydney 2005. It is well known that Argentine David Nalbandian in particular has a hatred for Australia and one Australian player in particular, namely Lleyton Hewitt. Shortly after Australia and Argentina's 2005 encounter Lleyton Hewitt was voted in an Argentine paper as one of the top 5 hated people in sports. It is thought this feud started at the 2005 Australian Open in Lleyton Hewitt's third round clash against Juan Ignacio Chela. Chela got frustrated at Hewitt when he yelled his famous 'Come On' in front of a home crowd when Chela made an unforced error. During the changeover, Hewitt was sitting down and Chela spat at him. Chela was later fined. In Hewitt's Quarterfinal round he played another Argentine David Nalbandian. Hewitt and Nalbandian brushed shoulders during a changeover. Nalbandian later claimed that Hewitt purposely tried to hit him. Argentina's Guillermo Coria was quoted saying "I would rather never win another match than be like him" refferng to Lleyton Hewitt's arrogance. David Nalbandian is also quoted saying "Hewitt has no friends on the ATP Tour". Ironically, Hewitt is known to be good friends with Argentine Gaston Gaudio.
[edit] United States
Australia and USA have played each other in the Davis Cup final on 29 different occasions. Having both teams dominate the competition for 36 years Australia and USA have come to grow a rivalry between the two. In recent years the rivalry has died down while the two teams have not played each other since 1999.
[edit] Current Team
- Lleyton Hewitt (singles & doubles)
- Peter Luczak (singles)
- Paul Hanley (doubles)
- Chris Guccione (singles)
[edit] Trivia and Records
- Australia has won the Davis Cup 28 times the second most compared with USA on 32.
- Along with the Australian Davis Cup Team winning the Davis Cup in 1999, Australia became the first and only country to win three of four team competitions in the same year. In 1999 Australia won the Davis Cup, World Team Championship and the Hopman Cup. The only team competition Australia did not win in 1999 was the women's Fed Cup.
- Australia completed a rare feat in 1986 when they won both the Davis Cup and the Junior Davis Cup.
- Australia played in the World Group in all but one year since it was created in 1981, sharing this record with United States, Sweden and Czech Republic.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Team page on DavisCup.com
Image:Flag of Australia.svg Australia's national teams |
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