Andy Murray took Great Britain into their first Davis Cup semi-finals since 1981 with a 4 set win over Frenchman Gilles Simon at the Queen’s Club in London.
Murray’s four set victory, having come from a set and a break of serve behind, secured the British team an unassailable 3 rubbers to 1 lead in a best of 5 rubber format.
Britain will now face Australia for a place in the final on 18th -20th September, with a venue yet to be decided.
But what is the Davis Cup?
The Davis Cup is the premier international men’s team tennis event in the world. Organised and run by the ITF (Int
ernational Tennis Federation), the knock-out format competition occurs annually. Since its’ establishment in 1900, it has now become the world’s largest annual international team competition in sport, with 126 nations taking part in 2015. Four members of the Harvard University tennis team, who wished to set up a match between USA and Great Britain, created the idea of Davis Cup. Once the two national associations had agreed, one of the four players, Dwight Davis, designed a tournament format and ordered a trophy, buying it with his own money. The tournament was originally known as the International Lawn Tennis Challenge, but soon became known as Davis Cup after Dwight Davis’s trophy.
When Great Britain, spearheaded by Andy Murray, face Australia in September, they will look to reach their first final since 1978. And if they progress, they will then look for their first Davis Cup title since 1936, when the British team included greats such as Fred Perry and Bunny Austin.
To follow more of Andy Murrays success please visit our recent blog here
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