Davis Cup Tennis Great Britain vs Belgium – Everything You Wanted To Know About The Tie and More

2015 DAVIS CUP BY BNP PARIBAS FINAL

BELGIUM v GREAT BRITAIN

27-29 NOVEMBER

Flanders Expo, Ghent, Belgium (clay – indoors)

CHOICE OF GROUND

 

• The tie will be played on an indoor clay court at the Flanders Expo. The crowd capacity will be 13,000.

 

PAST CHAMPIONS

 

• In total, 14 nations have won the Davis Cup.

 

­   USA                                                                                          32

­   Australia                                                                                   28

­   France, Great Britain                                                                9

­   Sweden                                                                                    7

­   Spain                                                                                       5

­   Germany                                                                                  3

­   Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic                                              3

­   Russia                                                                                       2

­   Croatia, Italy, Serbia, South Africa, Switzerland                      1

 

ALL FIVE TO FIVE…

Only twice have all 5 rubbers of a Davis Cup tie gone to 5 sets: 1946 European Zone semifinal, Yugoslavia defeated France 3-2 and 2003 World Group play-off, Romania defeated Ecuador 3-2.

 

COMEBACKS FROM 0-2 DOWN…

There have been just 9 comebacks from 0-2 down in World Group ties. Sweden has produced 4 of these comebacks. Australia recorded the most recent one in the 2015 quarterfinals after defeating Kazakhstan 3-2 in Darwin. In the Davis Cup overall there have been 57 comebacks from 0-2 down since the competition began in 1900.

 

TOP TIEBREAKS…

The most tiebreaks in a Davis Cup tie is 11 (Croatia d. Brazil 4-1, 2008 World Group play-off).

 

PARTICIPATING NATIONS…

126 nations entered the 2015 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas.

 

DAVIS CUP NATIONS RANKING…

The ITF Davis Cup Nations Ranking was launched at the end of 2001. It is published following every tie weekend and measures success over the preceding 4-year period, with recent performances weighted more heavily. It is the sole criteria for seeding at all levels of Davis Cup competition.

 

Latest Davis Cup Nations Ranking (2 November 2015)

 

DAVIS CUP RECORDS^

 

	World Group	Davis Cup
Most Games in a Tie    (post-tiebreak*)	275: France d. Switzerland 3-2, 2001 quarterfinal	281: Romania d. Ecuador 3-2, 2003 WG play-off
Most Games in a Tie     (pre-tiebreak*)	281: Paraguay d. France 3-2, 1985 first round	327: India d. Australia 3-2, 1974 Eastern Zone Final
Most Games in a Singles Rubber (post-tiebreak*)	82: Radek Stepanek (CZE) d. Ivo Karkovic (CRO) 2009 semifinal	82: Richard Ashby (BAR) d. Jose Medrano (BOL) 1991 Americas II, first round
Most Games in a Singles Rubber (pre-tiebreak*)	85: Michael Westphal (FRG) d. Tomas Smid (TCH) 1985 semifinal	100: Harry Fritz (CAN) d. Jorge Andrew (VEN) 1982 Americas Zone semifinal
Most Games in a Doubles Rubber (post-tiebreak*)	91: Berdych/Rosol (CZE) d. Chiudinelli/Wawrinka (SUI), 2013 first round	see World Group
Most Games in a Doubles Rubber (pre-tiebreak*)	77 (twice): Annacone/Flach (USA) d. Cash/Fitzgerald (AUS) 1986 semifinal Casal/Sanchez (ESP) d. Gonzalez/Pecci (PAR) 1987 quarterfinal	122: Smith/Van Dillen (USA) d. Cornejo/ Fillol (CHI), 1973 American Zone Final
Most Games in a Set (singles)	40 (21-19): Carlos Kirmayr (BRA) v Uli Pinner (FRG) 1981 Relegation Tie	46 (24-22 twice): Alvaro Betancur (COL) v Dale Power (CAN) 1976 American Zone Andrei Chesnokov (URS) v Michiel Schapers (NED), 1987 European Zone
Most Games in a Set (doubles)	46 (24-22): Berdych/Rosol (CZE) v Chiudinelli/Wawrinka (SUI) 2013 first round	76 (39-37): Cornejo/Fillol (CHI) v Smith/Van Dillen (USA) 1973 American Zone Final
Longest Fifth Set  (Singles)	17-15 (twice): Michael Westphal (FRG) v Tomas Smid (TCH) 1985 semifinal Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) v Andy Roddick (USA) 2006 semifinal	20-18 (twice): Richard Ashby (BAR) v Jose Medrano (BOL), 1991 Americas II, first round. Nuno Marques (POR) v Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 1998 Europe/Africa II, second round
Longest Fifth Set  (Doubles)	24-22: Berdych/Rosol (CZE) v Chiudinelli/Wawrinka (SUI), 2013 first round	see World Group
Longest recorded playing-time (tie)	21 hours, 2 minutes: France d. Switzerland 3-2, 2001 quarterfinal	21 hours, 37 minutes: Romania d. Ecuador 3-2, 2003 WG play-off
Longest singles rubber	6 hours, 43 minutes: Leonardo Mayer (ARG) d. Joao Souza (BRA), 2015 first round	see World Group
Longest doubles rubber	7 hours, 1 minute: Berdych/Rosol (CZE) d. Chiudinelli/Wawrinka (SUI), 2013 first round	see World Group
Fewest number of games conceded in a tie	26: Germany d. Indonesia 5-0, 1989 first round	6: Sri Lanka d. Syria – 1991 Asia/Oceania II, first round
Longest tiebreak*	15-13: Patrick Rafter (AUS) d. David Rikl (CZE), 1997 first round	19-17: Young-Jun Kim (KOR) d. Aqeel Khan (PAK), 2003 Asia/Oceania Zone Group I

*the tiebreak was introduced in Davis Cup in 1989;  ^for further details see the Statistics page on DavisCup.com

 

BELGIUM v GREAT BRITAIN

Head-to-head: Great Britain leads 7-4

This is the 12th meeting between Belgium and Great Britain, but only their 2nd since 1963. Belgium won their last meeting 4-1 in Europe/Africa Zone Group I in Glasgow in 2012, with 3 members of the Belgium team nominated for this year’s Final – Ruben Bemelmans, Steve Darcis and David Goffin – all winning rubbers.

 

Great Britain has not defeated Belgium since 1963, when it won 5-0 on clay in Brussels. That year Billy Knight and Mike Sangster each won 2 singles rubbers, while Tony Pickard and Bobby Wilson won a 5-set decisive doubles in the 3rd rubber.

 

This rivalry is 111 years old. British Isles won the first meeting between the 2 nations in the World Group Challenge Round Final in 1904, when the Doherty brothers, Laurence and Reggie, won the decisive 3rd rubber in a 5-0 victory at Wimbledon (Worple Road).

 

Great Britain has a 4-2 win-loss record against Belgium on a clay court, while Belgium won the only previous indoor encounter between the 2 nations in their 2012 meeting at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena.

 

            Road to the Final

Belgium		Great Britain
d. Switzerland 3-2, Liege (BEL)	World Group first round	d. USA 3-2, Glasgow (GBR)
d. Canada 5-0, Middelkerke (Ostend) (BEL)	World Group quarterfinals	d. France 3-1, London (GBR)
d. Argentina 3-2, Brussels (BEL)	World Group semifinals	d. Australia 3-2, Glasgow (GBR)

 

 

    

 

• BELGIUM is bidding to win its first Davis Cup title and become the 15th nation to lift the trophy.

 

• Belgium is through to the Davis Cup Final for the first time since 1904, its debut year in the competition, when it finished runner-up to this weekend’s opponents. William le Maire de Warzee and Paul de Borman represented Belgium in the Final, losing 5-0 to British Isles.

 

• Belgium is bidding to win 5 consecutive Davis Cup ties for the first time since 1989-1990, when it won 5 straight ties to rise from Europe Group II into the World Group.

 

• Belgium is hosting its 4th consecutive home tie – the first time it has hosted 4 straight ties in Davis Cup since it went on a 4-match losing streak at home in 1963-1966.

 

• Last year, Belgium lost to Kazakhstan 3-2 in the first round, before defeating Ukraine 3-2 in the World Group play-offs.

 

• Steve Darcis has made a habit of winning decisive 5th rubbers. He has won the tie in a live 5th rubber for Belgium on 4 occasions – in World Group play-offs against Ukraine in 2009 (d. Sergei Bubka), Australia in 2010 (d. Carsten Ball), Israel in 2013 (d. Amir Weintraub) and in the 2015 World Group semifinals against Argentina (d. Federico Delbonis).

 

• Darcis is the 4th-most successful Belgian Davis Cup player in history in terms of singles match-wins, behind Jacques Brichant (52), Philippe Washer (46) and Andre Lacroix (21). Darics has a 17-8 win-loss record in singles rubbers.

 

• Darcis has a 10-1 win-loss record in Davis Cup singles rubbers on clay. His only defeat in 11 singles rubbers on the surface came against USA’s James Blake in a dead 5th rubber on his Davis Cup debut in the 2005 World Group play-offs.

 

• David Goffin has an 11-2 win-loss record in Davis Cup singles rubbers. He has a 4-1 singles win-loss record on clay courts in the competition, with his only loss coming in 5-sets against Serbia’s Viktor Troicki in the 2013 World Group first round in Charleroi.

 

• Kimmer Coppejans has been nominated for Belgium for a 4th time. He made his only Davis Cup appearance in Belgium’s 5-0 quarterfinal win over Canada in July, winning the decisive doubles with Ruben Bemelmans and the dead 4th rubber against Frank Dancevic.

 

• Jacques Brichant is the most successful Belgian player in Davis Cup history in terms of overall wins (71), singles wins (52), most ties (42) and years played (17).

 

• If Belgium wins the title, it would be the 10th time a nation has lifted the trophy having played all 4 Davis Cup ties at home. Spain was the last nation to do so in 2009.

 

• Belgium will host Croatia in the 2016 World Group first round on 4-6 March. It will be Belgium’s 5th straight tie on home soil – the first time it has played 5 straight ties on home soil since 1956-57.

 

• GREAT BRITAIN is bidding to win the Davis Cup title for the first time since 1936, when Fred Perry won the decisive 5th rubber in a 3-2 victory over Australia on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

 

• Great Britain is bidding to win its 10th Davis Cup title overall and take sole ownership of 3rd place on the list for most Davis Cup titles behind USA (32) and Australia (28). Like France, Great Britain has won 9 titles:

 

­   August 1903           Challenge Round        British Isles d. USA 4-1                Boston, MA (USA)

­   July 1904               Challenge Round        British Isles d. Belgium 5-0          Wimbledon (GBR)

­   July 1905               Challenge Round        British Isles d. USA 5-0                Wimbledon (GBR)

­   June 1906              Challenge Round        British Isles d. USA 5-0                Wimbledon (GBR)

­   Nov 1912                Challenge Round        British Isles d. Australasia 3-2      Melbourne (AUS)

­   July 1933               Challenge Round        Great Britain d. France 3-2           Paris (FRA)

­   July 1934               Challenge Round        Great Britain d. USA 4-1               Wimbledon (GBR)

­   July 1935               Challenge Round        Great Britain d. USA 5-0               Wimbledon (GBR)

­   July 1936               World Group Final       Great Britain d. Australia 3-2        Wimbledon (GBR)

 

• Great Britain is through to the Davis Cup Final for the first time since 1978, when it finished runner-up after losing 4-1 to USA. Mark Cox, David Lloyd, John Lloyd and Buster Mottram were part of the British team that year in a Final highlighted by 2 singles wins for USA’s John McEnroe.

 

• This is Great Britain’s 18th appearance in the Davis Cup Final. Only USA (61) and Australia (47) have made more appearances in the Davis Cup Final.

 

• Great Britain is bidding for its 4th consecutive Davis Cup tie victory. It has not won 4 straight Davis Cup ties since winning 5 in a row between July 2010 and February 2012, when it climbed from Europe/Africa Zone Group II to Group I, ultimately losing to this weekend’s opponents in the Group I 2nd round in Glasgow in April 2012.

 

• Last year, Great Britain reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 1986 after defeating USA 3-1 in the first round in San Diego before falling to Italy 3-2 in the quarterfinals in Naples.

 

 

 

• Andy Murray could equal Buster Mottram (27 wins) in 5th place on the list for most singles wins by a British man if he wins 2 singles rubbers this weekend.

 

                                       Most Davis Cup singles match-wins by a British player

1.	Bunny Austin	36-12
2.	Fred Perry	34-4
3=	Tim Henman Mike Sangster	29-8 29-19
5.	Buster Mottram	27-8
6.	Roger Taylor	26-9
7=	Tony Mottram Andy Murray	25-13 25-2
9.	Billy Knight	21-13
10.	Greg Rusedski	20-10

 

• Andy Murray’s only 2 defeats in Davis Cup singles rubbers have come on clay. He lost to Stan Wawrinka in the 2005 World Group play-offs on indoor clay in Geneva and to Fabio Fognini in the 2014 World Group quarterfinals on outdoor clay in Naples, both in straight sets.

 

• Andy Murray is the joint-7th most successful British player in terms of Davis Cup total match-wins with Buster Mottram. He will take sole ownership of 7th place on the list if he wins a match this weekend.

 

               Most overall Davis Cup match-wins by a British player

1.	Fred Perry	45-7
2.	Mike Sangster	43-22
3.	Bobby Wilson	41-20
4.	Tim Henman	40-14
5=	Bunny Austin Tony Mottram	36-12 36-20
7=	Buster Mottram Andy Murray	31-10 31-7
9.	Greg Rusedski	30-13
10.	Roger Taylor	29-11

 

• If Andy Murray wins both his singles rubbers in the Final he will be 8-0 in Davis Cup singles rubbers this year. He would be just the 3rd player after John McEnroe in 1982 and Mats Wilander in 1983 to achieve an 8-0 singles win-loss record in a single calendar year since the introduction of the World Group in 1981.

 

• If Andy Murray wins 3 rubbers this weekend, he will become only the 4th man to win 11 rubbers in a single Davis Cup year since the introduction of the World Group in 1981.

 

                               Players to have won 11 Davis Cup rubbers in a calendar year

	Year	Win-loss
John McEnroe	1982	12-0
Michael Stich Ivan Ljubicic	1993 1995	11-1 11-1

(NB. Ivan Ljubicic lost his final rubber in 1995 when bidding to tie John McEnroe’s flawless 12-0 record)

 

• Andy Murray has featured in 8 of the 9 rubbers Great Britain have won in 2015. Great Britain’s only point not featuring Andy Murray came from James Ward, who defeated John Isner in 5-sets (15-13 in the 5th set) in the 2nd rubber in the World Group first round against USA in Glasgow.

 

• Ward has a 4-1 win-loss record in 5-set matches in Davis Cup. His only 5-set defeat in Davis Cup came against Evgeny Donskoy in Great Britain’s comeback from 0-2 down against Russia in Europe/Africa Group I in 2013.

 

 

 

• Andy and Jamie Murray are the first brothers to be nominated in the same team for the Davis Cup Final since Bob and Mike Bryan won the title for USA in 2007. The last British brothers to feature in the Davis Cup Final were David and John Lloyd in 1978. Reggie and Laurie Doherty were the last British brothers to win the Davis Cup title – winning the decisive doubles rubber in British Isles’ 5-0 win over USA at Wimbledon in 1906.

 

• If he plays this weekend, Kyle Edmund will become the first man to make his Davis Cup debut in the Final since Feliciano Lopez appeared in the doubles rubber in Spain’s 2003 Final defeat to Australia.

 

• Edmund is looking to become the first man to win a live rubber on his Davis Cup debut in a Final. Of the 5 men to have made their Davis Cup debuts in the Final* – Jimmy Arias (1984), Richard Fromberg (1990), Pete Sampras (1991), Paul-Henri Mathieu (2002) and Lopez (2003) – Fromberg is the only one to have won a rubber, defeating Michael Chang in a dead 5th rubber in the 1990 Final. (*Since the abolition of the challenge round in 1972).

 

• Great Britain is the only nation that has competed in all the editions of the Davis Cup since 1900.

 

• Great Britain is playing in the World Group in back-to-back years for the first time since 2002-2003. It will play in the World Group for a 3rd consecutive year in 2016, the first time it has done so since it spent 4 straight years in the World Group from 1981-1984.

 

• Great Britain is ranked No. 3 on the ITF Davis Cup Nations Ranking – its highest ranking since the Davis Cup Nations Ranking was introduced in 2001.

 

• Great Britain will host Japan in the 2016 World Group first round. Great Britain has won 9 of its last 10 home ties in the competition, with its only defeat in that time coming in a 4-1 loss to this weekend’s opponents in the Group I Europe/Africa 2nd round in Glasgow in 2012.

Topics: Andy Murray, Belgian tennis news, Davis Cup, Davis Cup Tie, Great Britain tennis news, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News

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