The ATP tours annual team competition, the Davis Cup, will be returning in 2023. Discover the information about the competition including the Davis Cup schedule, qualifiers, and teams involved.

The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men’s tennis. The competition, known by organisers as the ‘World Cup of Tennis’, is making its first appearance as part of the ATP tour in the 2023 season.

The competition started as a challenge between Great Britain and the United States, and now it has grown into a worldwide tournament that saw 135 countries enter into it in 2016.

Find out more about the Davis Cup so you can be ready for what’s to come in 2023. Find the schedule, qualifiers, teams involved, and how to get tickets here.

History of the Davis Cup

The Davis Cup started in 1900 as a challenge competition between Great Britain and the United States. It was conceived by four members of the Harvard University tennis team in the US in 1899. The United States won the first edition.

By 1905 the competition was already starting to build up into a world championship, with Belgium, France, Austria, and Australasia (a combined team of Australia and New Zealand) taking part.

The original format saw all teams competing against one another for the right to face the previous year's champion in the final round.

In 1923, the competition continued to expand to the point where they ended up splitting the teams into two zones; the ‘America Zone’ and the ‘Europe Zone’.

The winners of the two zones met in the Inter-Zonal Zone to decide which national team would challenge the defending champion for the cup.

There came another zone in 1955 called the ‘Eastern Zone’, for the Eastern nations of the world such as Japan and India. Then it expanded again in 1966, specifically in Europe, to split the European zone into two. Now with the four zones in total, the winners of each competed in the INZ challenger rounds.

1972 saw the first big change to the format - the competition was changed to a knockout tournament so that the defending champion was required to compete in all rounds, and the Davis Cup was awarded to the tournament champion.

Up until 1973, the competition was only available to be competed by amateurs and national registered professional players. It wasn’t until five years after the Open Era began that it was opened to contracted professionals as well.

In 1981, a tiered system of competition was created, in which the 16 best national teams compete in the World Group and all other national teams compete in one of four groups in one of three regional zones.

It wasn’t until 2019 that the format changed to suit more sponsorship backing. It was changed to become an 18-team event at the end of the season with qualifiers throughout the year to sort out who would be competing.

Davis Cup winners

There have been 16 winners in the past, with Canada being the most recent champions, picking up their first-ever victory.

The United States is the most successful side of all time, winning 32 competitions altogether, including a record nine since the format change in 1972. However, they have failed to taste victory since 2007.

After separating from the Australasia team and going independent, Australia found an incredible amount of success between 1950-1967, winning 15 of the 18 tournaments, with Aussie tennis legend Rod Laver helping in four of those victories and winning five in his career.

Great Britain is the fourth most successful side in the competition's history, although they haven’t done so well since the first format change in 1972. Altogether, they have 10 wins. But since 1972, they have only seen one victory in 2015.

With the future International Tennis Hall of Famer Rafael Nadal as their team captain, Spain has been the most successful team since the 2000s, winning six titles, most recently in 2019.

Davis Cup format

The current Davis Cup format was revised in 2019 and has since undergone changes to become a more compact and dynamic tournament. The Davis Cup is now played in a single week, with 18 teams competing in a World Cup-style format, rather than the traditional home-and-away format.

The tournament starts with a preliminary round, in which the teams are divided into six groups of three. The top team from each group advances to the quarter-finals, where they are joined by the two best second-placed teams.

The quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final are played in a knockout format, with the winner being crowned Davis Cup champion.

Matches are now played in a best-of-three-sets format, with each team having two singles players and one doubles team. The first to win three matches wins the tie, and the winner of each tie advances to the next round.

The Davis Cup has also introduced new innovations such as the tiebreak at 10-10 in the final set and the use of a shot clock to ensure a fast pace of play.

Overall, the current format of the Davis Cup is designed to make the tournament more accessible and appealing to players, fans, and broadcasters, while still retaining the competitive spirit and traditions of the tournament.

Davis Cup 2023 schedule

The 2023 Davis Cup will be the 111th edition of the tournament. It will feature 16 teams in the finals (following on from the change from 18 to 16 from last year’s edition).

Davis Cup Qualifiers

The qualifying round took place between the 3-5 February, and it featured 24 teams vying for the 12 spots in the finals.

The 12 teams that made it through to the finals were:

  • Croatia
  • France
  • United States
  • Switzerland
  • Great Britain
  • Serbia
  • Chile
  • South Korea
  • Sweden
  • Netherlands
  • Finland
  • Czech Republic

Those 12 teams will be joining Australia, Canada (both received automatic qualification due to being finalists of the 2022 competition), Italy and Spain (wild card teams).

Davis Cup Finals

The Davis Cup finals round will begin with the Group Stage, which will take place between 12-17 September.

Following the Group Stage will be the Knockout Rounds, which will run from 21st November to the Final on 26th November.

Davis Cup 2023 tickets

Seat Unique currently does not have tickets available for the tournament, however, you can register your interest in Davis Cup 2023 tickets and we will contact you if we do have tickets on sale at a later date.

With Seat Unique, you will be able to purchase premium hospitality tickets and packages to the Davis Cup Finals in 2023, providing you with the very best seats to witness all the action from the ‘World Cup of Tennis’.

Be sure to register your interest now so you can be made aware of any developments in ticket availability with us.

Register interest in Davis Cup hospitality