The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organisers as the "World Cup of Tennis", and the winners are referred to as the World Champion team. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Great Britain and the United States. By 2016, 135 nations entered teams into the competition.
Alejandro "Alex" Olmedo Rodríguez was a tennis player from Peru with American citizenship. He was listed by the USTA as a "foreign" player for 1958, but as a U.S. player for 1959. He helped win the Davis Cup for the United States in 1958 and was the No. 2 ranked amateur in 1959. Olmedo won two Majors in 1959 and the U.S. Pro Championships in 1960, and was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.
Ramanathan Krishnan is a retired tennis player from India who was among the world's leading players in the 1950s and 1960s. He was twice a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 1960 and 1961, reaching as high as World No. 3 in Potter's amateur rankings. He led India to the Challenge Round of the 1966 Davis Cup against Australia and was the non playing captain when Vijay Amritraj and Anand Amritraj led India into the 1974 Davis Cup finals against South Africa.
Ashley John Cooper AO was an Australian tennis player who played between 1953 and 1968. He was ranked as the world's No. 1 amateur player during the years of 1957 and 1958. Cooper won four singles and four doubles titles at Grand Slam tournaments. He won three of the four Grand Slam events in 1958. He turned professional in 1959. Cooper won the Slazenger Professional Championships tournament in 1959. He won the Grand Prix de Europe professional tour of Europe in 1960. Cooper won the European Cup professional tour of Europe in 1962. He retired from tennis play at the end of 1962 due to injury.
Adriano Panatta is a former professional tennis player from Italy. He won the French Open in 1976, and was the only player ever to defeat Björn Borg at Roland Garros, doing so on two occasions. He is also the only Italian man to win a men's singles Grand Slam title in the Open Era.
Nicola "Nicky" Pietrangeli is a former Italian tennis player. He won two singles titles at the French Championships and is considered by many to be Italy's greatest tennis champion.
Neale Andrew Fraser is a former number one amateur male tennis-player from Australia, born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of a Victorian judge. Fraser is the last man to have completed the triple crown, i.e. having won the singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles at a Grand Slam tournament, which he managed on two consecutive occasions, in 1959 and 1960 ; no male player has equalled this feat at any Grand Slam tournament since.
Wally Masur is a tennis coach, television commentator, and former professional tennis player from Sydney, Australia. He reached the semifinals of the 1987 Australian Open and the 1993 US Open, achieving a career-high singles ranking of world No. 15 in October 1993.
Francisco Javier Clavet González de Castejón, known as Pato Clavet, is a former professional tennis player from Spain. He won eight singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 1992 Indian Wells Masters and the 1999 Miami Masters, and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 18 in July 1992. He reached No. 16 at the Champions Race, after winning in Scottsdale in 2001.
Corrado Barazzutti is a former tennis player from Italy. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 7, achieved in August 1978.
Ulf "Uffe" Christian Johan Schmidt is a former Swedish tennis player. He competed for AIK from Stockholm.
The Italy men's national tennis team represents Italy in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Federazione Italiana Tennis. Italy won the Davis Cup in 1976, and finished as runners-up six times. They currently compete in the World Group. They last competed in the highest level in 2000, but winning 3–0 against Chile, on September 16, 2011, won again a pass for the World Group. Nicola Pietrangeli is one of Italy's most decorated players, featuring in all major records for the team. He holds the record for most Davis Cup ties, most overall wins, most singles wins, most doubles wins, and most years played.
Luis Alberto Ayala Salinas is a former Chilean tennis player who competed in the 1950s and 1960s.
Ruben Bemelmans is a Belgian former professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP ranking of world No. 84 in singles, achieved on 28 September 2015, and world No. 128 in doubles, achieved on 1 October 2012. Bemelmans competed mainly in the Challenger tour circuit.
Robert Keith Wilson was an English tennis player. Wilson reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon four times, Forest Hills twice, and Roland Garros once during the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was also a prominent Great Britain Davis Cup team member.
Tennis in Italy is the 6th sport, with 1,298,000 people, by number of practitioners.
Dimitar Kuzmanov is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He plays mostly on the ATP Challenger Tour. His highest singles ranking is No. 159 achieved on 29 August 2022, whilst his best doubles ranking is No. 438 achieved on 1 April 2019.
Kyle Steven Edmund is a British professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 14 and was the top-ranked male British tennis player from March 2018 through October 2019.
Ladislav "Laci" Legenstein is a Croatian–born Austrian former tennis player.
Jacques Peten was a Belgian alpine skier and tennis player. He competed in the men's combined event at the 1936 Winter Olympics. Peten represented Belgium in the Davis Cup, appearing in seven ties between 1946 and 1951, as well as competing in the French Championships, Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships.
Italy