Czech Republic to take over No. 1 position on ITF Davis Cup Nations Ranking

Written by: Staff on 7th April 2013

Czech Republic to take over No. 1 position on ITF Davis Cup Nations Ranking

epa03565216 Czech fans cheer during the doubles match between Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol and Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli of the Davis Cup World Group First Round tie between Switzerland and the Czech Republic in Geneva, Switzerland, 02 February 2013. EPA/MARTIAL TREZZINI |

Czech Republic will become only the sixth nation to hold the No. 1 position on the ITF Davis Cup Nations Ranking after completing a 3-1 victory over Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas in Astana on Saturday. Lukas Rosol won the decisive point with a 76(5) 67(2) 76(5) 62 victory over Evgeny Korolev.

The new rankings will be issued on Monday 8 April, with Czech Republic climbing one place from its current position of No. 2. Spain, which has held the top spot for almost four years, will drop to No. 2.

The ITF Davis Cup Nations Ranking was launched in December 2001 and is used for seeding at all levels of the competition. It measures the success of all participating nations over a ‘rolling’ four year period with recent performance weighted more heavily. A new rankings list is published following every World Group round and nations at all levels of the competition have a ranking.

History of the No. 1 ranked nation on the ITF Davis Cup Nations Ranking

1: Australia 3 December 2001 – 11 February 2002

2: France 11 February 2002 – 1 December 2003

Australia 1 December 2003 – 12 April 2004

France 12 April 2004 – 27 September 2004

3: Spain 27 September 2004 – 21 November 2005

4: Croatia 21 November 2005 – 4 December 2006

5: Russia 4 December 2006 – 13 July 2009

Spain 13 July 2009 – 8 April 2013

6: Czech Republic 8 April 2013 –

Czech Republic also becomes only the third country after France and Russia to top the Davis Cup and Fed Cup Nations Ranking at the same time, having held the Fed Cup No. 1 ranking since 23 April 2012.

Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is the largest annual international team competition in sport with 130 nations taking part in 2013 in the ITF’s centenary year. The competition is 114 years old having been founded in 1900. The title sponsor is BNP Paribas, the Official Bank of Davis Cup.

Topics: CZECH REPUBLIC tennis news, Davis Cup, Evgeny Korolev, Itf, Kazakhstan tennis news, Lukas Rosol