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.
Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. He started to play tennis at six years old. He was the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. He retired in 1980. He was ranked world No. 1 by Rex Bellamy, Bud Collins, Judith Elian, Lance Tingay, World Tennis and Tennis Magazine (U.S.) in 1975. In 1975 Ashe was awarded the 'Martini and Rossi' Award, voted for by a panel of journalists, and the ATP Player of the Year award. In the ATP computer rankings, he peaked at No. 2 in May 1976.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there are 211 national and six regional associations that make up ITF's membership.
Aaron Krickstein, nicknamed "Marathon Man", is an American former professional tennis player who competed on the ATP Tour from 1983 to 1996. He currently competes on the Outback Champions Series Over-30 tour.
Steve "Lightning" Krulevitz is an American-Israeli former professional tennis player, and current coach. Playing for UCLA, he was an All-American. He won gold medals for the United States in singles and doubles at the 1977 Maccabiah Games. He played # 1 for the Israel Davis Cup team from 1978–80. His highest world singles ranking was No. 42. He was in the top 100 on the men’s tour from 1974 to 1983.
Anand Amritraj is a former Indian tennis player and businessman. He along with brother Vijay Amritraj led India into the 1974 Davis Cup finals against South Africa and was a part of the Indian team captained by Vijay Amritraj which reached the final of the Davis Cup in 1987 against Sweden.
The 1978 Davis Cup was the 67th edition of the Davis Cup, the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. 50 teams entered the competition, 29 in the Europe Zone, 10 in the Americas Zone, and 11 in the Eastern Zone.
Richard "Dick" LaClede Stockton is a former professional tennis player from the United States. In addition to his playing career, he was the head coach of the men's tennis team at the University of Virginia. for three years, from 1998-2001. Stockton also served as the Head Men's Tennis Coach at Piedmont College in Demorest, GA from 2018-2021.
Neil Broad is a former professional tennis player who represented Great Britain for most of his playing career. He is a former UK number 1 who won seven ATP tour doubles titles in his career, and won the silver medal in doubles at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
The ATP Rankings are the merit-based method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for determining the qualification for entry as well as the seeding of players in all singles and doubles tournaments. The first rankings for singles were published on 23 August 1973 while the doubles players were ranked for the first time on 1 March 1976. Ranking points are awarded according to the stage of tournament reached, and the prestige of the tournament, with the four Grand Slam tournaments awarding the most points. The rankings are updated every Monday, and points are dropped 52 weeks after being awarded. Novak Djokovic is the current world No. 1.
South Africa under apartheid was subjected to a variety of international boycotts, including on sporting contacts. There was some debate about whether the aim of the boycott was to oppose segregation in sport or apartheid in general, with the latter view prevailing in later decades.
Van Winitsky is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He achieved a career-high rankings of World No. 7 in doubles in October 1983 and World No. 35 in singles in February 1984.
Jocelyn Robichaud is a former tour professional tennis player. Robichaud captured three junior Grand Slam titles and played Davis Cup for Canada. More of a doubles specialist, he won three Challenger events in doubles and reached a career-high ATP doubles ranking of World No. 119.
David Schneider is a former professional tennis player from South Africa.
Toomas Leius is a former tennis player from Estonia who competed for the Soviet Union.
The Americas Zone was one of the three regional zones of the 1978 Davis Cup.
Mohamed Safwat is an Egyptian tennis player. Safwat has been a regular player on the Egypt Davis Cup team since 2009. Safwat has won one singles and three titles in doubles on the ATP Challenger Tour. He is currently the Egyptian No. 1 and the highest ranked Arab player on the ATP Tour, having overtaken Malek Jaziri in the rankings after reaching the final of the Tali Open in Helsinki, Finland, in November 2019.
Louis Vosloo is a former professional tennis player from South Africa.
Kwon Soon-woo is a South Korean tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 52 achieved on 1 November 2021. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of World No. 270 achieved on 3 February 2020.
Curt Mauritz Axel Östberg was a Swedish tennis player.
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