Davis Cup: Dates, schedule, history & more

Often referred to as the 'World Cup of Tennis', the Davis Cup remains the premier international team event in the men's game.

Initially started in 1900 as a contest solely between Great Britain and the United States, the 2024 finals, which will be the 112th edition of the tournament, will feature 16 nations participating in four round-robin groups, with the top two from each section progressing to the knockout stage.

The eight qualifiers will then battle it out in Malaga in November for the right to be crowned Davis Cup champions.

Davis Cup Dates

The 2024 Davis Cup begins with a qualifying round, which takes place from Friday 2nd February to Sunday 4th February, and features 12 home-away ties between 12 seeded nations and 12 unseeded nations.

Twelve nations advanced from the qualifying round to join defending champions Italy, 2023 runners-up Australia and wild cards Great Britain and Spain in the Finals group stage, which starts on Tuesday 10th September and concludes on Sunday 15th September.

Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands and the United States are just some of the other heavy-hitting nations involved, although there will be no place in the final 16 for Novak Djokovic and his Serbia side.

Dubbed the Final 8, the knockout portion of the Davis Cup Finals has again been confirmed to be taking place in Malaga in November. 

That part of the tournament starts on Tuesday 19th November 2024 and concludes on Sunday 24th November, where the final is expected to take place.

The 2024 ATP Finals conclude in Turin on Sunday 17th November, which is why those dates have been chosen for the finale of the competition.

Davis Cup Venues

The Davis Cup qualifying round was staged at the home nation's chosen venue, while the group stages of the Davis Cup Finals are to be divided among four host venues.

Bologna's Unipol Arena and the Pavello Municipal Font de Sant Lluis in Valencia have each hosted the Davis Cup over the last two seasons and will continue to do so, while the Manchester Arena replaced the Emirates Arena in Glasgow as the British venue for the 2023 tournament, and gets the nod again.

The Arena Gripe in Split, Croatia, was the fourth host venue for the 2023 Davis Cup, but this year round, the Hengqin Tennis Center in Zhuhai, China, has been chosen.

The destination for the Final 8 has again been confirmed as Malaga's Martin Carpena Arena, which hosted the knockout stages in both 2022 and 2023.   

Davis Cup How to watch

Great Britain's 2023 Davis Cup ties were streamed on BBC iPlayer and that's likely to be the case once again. bet365's Live Streaming Service will show selected matches throughout the duration of the competition.

Davis Cup Format

The Davis Cup format underwent significant changes in 2019 with the creation of the Davis Cup Finals, which saw 16 teams compete in four round-robin groups for the first time with eight teams advancing to the knockout stage.

The head-to-head group ties feature two singles matches and a doubles match - all of which must be completed as the total matches won determines which nation advances from the group in the

The same format carries over to the eight-team knockout stage but the concluding doubles rubber is not played if one team takes an unassailable 2-0 lead.  

Davis Cup Previous Winners

Italy claimed only their second Davis Cup title at the 2023 Finals as Jannik Sinner inspired them to knockout wins over the Netherlands, Serbia and Australia.

Sinner won all three singles rubbers, including beating Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, as the Italians added to their 1976 Davis Cup success.

The United States are the most successful team in the history of the Davis Cup, winning the title on 32 occasions, but they are winless since 2007 and finished bottom of their group in the 2023 tournament.

Australia, beaten in the final in both 2022 and 2023, have won the Davis Cup 28 times with France and Great Britain next on the list with ten victories apiece.

Britain won nine of their ten Davis Cups between 1903 and 1936 before Andy Murray helped to end a 79-year wait with victory over Belgium in the 2015 final.