The Lithuania men's national tennis team represents Lithuania in Davis Cup tennis competition, and are governed by the Lithuanian Tennis Association.
Lithuania has never been a tennis country – no tennis player from Lithuania entered ATP top 500 until 2008. However, the situation is changing in recent years. Currently young Lithuanian players are winning the greatest tennis victories in the history of Lithuania, making tennis a major sport in the country. Now, Lithuania has many tennis players.
In 2012 Lithuania competed in the third group of Davis Cup, where they won all three ties and got promoted to the second group. It played seven times there. Also, it has competed in the third group for 13 times. And once have been promoted to group one, where Lithuania team is currently playing.
Current team (2015) Player information and rankings +Squad representing Lithuania vs. Poland (2015 Europe/Africa Group 1 First Round)PlayerCurrent singles rankingCurrent doubles rankingFirst year playedTies playedTotal W–LSingles W–LDoubles W–LRičardas Berankis7655320071317–914–53–4Laurynas Grigelis361132200897–94–73–2Lukas Mugevičius642417201063–72–41–3Mantas Bugailiškis (young player)N/AN/A201310–10–00–1
Other players Julius Tverijonas Benas Majauskas
History Lithuania started its Davis Cup history in 1994 with competing in the Europe and Africa zone of Group III.
Present Lithuania started 2009 Davis Cup with their first ever victory in Group II. In the first round, Lithuania defeated Georgia 3–2Lithuania vs. Georgia daviscup.com in front of a home crowd in a recently built SEB arena. All work was done by the youngest members of the Lithuanian team – 18-year-old Ričardas Berankis won both of his singles matches Lithuania vs. Georgia 1-1 15min.lt R.Berankis evened the score 15min.lt and 16-year-old Dovydas Šakinis defeated the leader of Georgian team Irakli Labadze in the decisive rubber. D.Šakinis won the decisive match 15min.lt For the second round match-up, Lithuania went to Otočec to play against Slovenia. However, the Slovenian team with Grega Žemlja and Blaž Kavčič was too strong for Lithuania, which won only one set in five matches, and the tie ended 0–5.Slovenia vs. Lithuania daviscup.com Lithuanian tennis team did not match Slovenia 15min.lt
In 2010 Lithuania had its better performance. For the first round match-up Lithuania drew the top seeded British team in Lithuania. With James Ward defeating Laurynas Grigelis, Great Britain winning the doubles match and Berankis winning both of his singles matches the tie came to the decisive rubber. Grigelis won a five-setter against Daniel Evans Lithuanian hero L.Grigelis: It was the best match in my career 15min.lt and against all odds Lithuania celebrated a 3–2Lithuania vs. Great Britain daviscup.com victory over Great Britain.Great Britain suffer humiliating Davis Cup defeat bbc.co.ukDavis Cup: Great Britain suffers new tennis low with defeat in Lithuania telegraph.co.uk Lithuania's next round was against Irish team led by Conor Niland and James McGee in Dublin. Lithuania celebrated after the second day when Berankis and Grigelis won the first three matches and secured the tie. Doubles team of Berankis and Grigelis secured the tie for Lithuania 15min.lt Ireland won the remaining dead rubbers with Lithuania winning the tie 3–2.Ireland vs. Lithuania daviscup.comDavis Cup: Lithuania overcome Irish team tennisireland.ie In the third round Lithuania had a rematch of last year's tie against Slovenia, only this time Slovenian team came to Vilnius. The best two Lithuanian tennis players Berankis and Grigelis represented Lithuania in all five matches but they won only two of them – Berankis defeated Blaž Kavčič in the first rubber and Lithuania came back from two sets to love down in the doubles match. Eventually, Lithuania ended up losing 2–3Lithuania vs. Slovenia daviscup.com and Slovenia was promoted to the first group. Davis Cup: Kavčič achieved the victory against Grigelis and Lithuania deuce.lt
Lithuania came into the 2011 Davis Cup with high hopes but the dreams were crashed in the first round tie against Estonia in Tallinn. During the second rubber Grigelis got a knee injury and not only lost the match but also had to skip the remaining tie. Laurynas Grigelis got injured during the Davis Cup match in Estonia deuce.lt Grigelis was replaced by Dovydas Šakinis who was still recovering from pneumonia so couldn't play his best tennis. Although Berankis won both of his singles matches, Davis Cup in Estonia: Ričardas Berankis defeated Jurgen Zopp and saved the tie 15min.lt Lithuania lost the tie 2–3.Estonia vs. Lithuania daviscup.com Dovydas Šakinis lost to Jaak Poldma, therefore Lithuania lost to Estonia 15min.l The fourth rubber between Berankis and Jürgen Zopp took 3 hours 46 minutes and it was the longest rubber for both teams in their histories. After the first round loss Lithuania faced a relegation play-off against Morocco in Vilnius, where neither Berankis Ričardas Berankis won't play tennis for one more month and will skip Davis Cup 15min.lt nor Grigelis Laurynas Grigelis chose his personal career over representing Lithuania in Davis Cup 15min.lt helped Lithuania. The Lithuanian team, with only one ranked player and all players being under 19, lost to Morocco 0-5Lithuania vs. Morocco daviscup.com Lithuania lost Davis Cup survival tie to Morocco 0:5 15min.lt which led to the relegation to the third group for the following year.
In 2012, Lithuania was competing in Group III. In the group stage Lithuania defeated Andorra and San Marino without losing a set. For the promotion play-off Lithuania faced the Greek team. In the first rubber Grigelis lost a tough match to Theodoros Angelinos but Berankis restored the parity by defeating Paris Gemouchidis. In the decisive rubber, Lithuanian leaders won a doubles match and the tie ended 2–1. Lithuania got promoted to the Group II for the following year.Europe Zone Group III daviscup.com
In 2013, Lithuania was drawn to play against Cyprus in the first round of the Europe/Africa Zone Group II.
In 2014 Lithuania team defeated South Africa, Norway and Bosnia and Herzegovina and was promoted to Europe/Africa Zone Group I for the first time in 2015.
Statistics Total record 45–33 (58%)
Head-to-head record
0–1 2–1 1–0 2–1 1–0 3–2 2–0 1–0 3–0 0–3 1–6 1–0 2–0 1–0 1–1 1–0 0–1 3–0 1–1 0–1 2–0 0–1 0–1 1–1 2–0 1–0 0–1 2–2 1–2 2–0 1–0 1–0 0–1 0–1 2–0 1–0 0–1 0–2 1–0 2–0 2–2 0–1
Group record Europe/Africa zone group II 4–11 (27%) Europe/Africa zone group III 41–22 (65%)
Home and away record Group II: Performance in Lithuania 3–6 (33%) Performance away 1–5 (17%) Group III: Performance in Lithuania 2–2 (50%) Performance away 39–20 (66%)
Surface record Carpet courts 3–5 (38%) Clay courts 30–23 (57%) Grass courts 0–0 (-%) Hard courts 12–5 (71%)
Matches record Singles 108–78 (58%) Doubles 70–80 (47%) Total 178–158 (53%)
Statistics correct as of the end of the season in 2013.
All players PlayerHighest singles rankingHighest doubles rankingFirst year playedYears playedTies playedTotal W–LSingles W–LDoubles W–L201559199951920071529201322202292006282006232005122011112008491994382000252003122005520199441320104619941249199812200911200612199928200283120095101998311201111199413201311
Results
1994–1999 YearGroupTeamRoundDateLocationSurfaceOpponentScoreOutcome1994Europe/Africa Zone Group IIIDenis Ivancovas, Gitanas Mažonas, Rolandas Muraška, Giedrius Vėželis, Team capitan: Remigijus BalžekasRR18 MayBratislava, SlovakiaClay3–0WonRR19 May2–1WonRR20 May3–0Won1R21 May2–1WonF22 May0–3Lost1995Europe/Africa Zone Group IIDenis Ivancovas, Gitanas Mažonas, Rolandas Muraška, Team capitan: Remigijus Balžekas1R28–30 AprilŠiauliai, LithuaniaCarpet (i)1–4LostPO14–16 JulyVilnius, LithuaniaClay1–4Lost1996Europe/Africa Zone Group IIIEugenius Cariovas, Denis Ivancovas, Gitanas Mažonas, Rolandas Muraška, Team capitan: Remigijus BalžekasRR21 MayIstanbul, TurkeyHard3–0WonRR22 May3–0WonRR23 May3–0WonRR24 May3–0WonRR25 May3–0WonRR26 May3–0Won1997Europe/Africa Zone Group IIEugenijus Cariovas, Rolandas Muraška, Team capitan: Gracijus Remeikis1R2–4 MayVilnius, LithuaniaCarpet (i)2–3LostPO11–14 JulyCairo, EgyptClay2–3Lost1998Europe/Africa Zone Group IIIRolandas Muraška, Tomas Petrauskas, Aistis Šlajus, Team capitan: Gracijus RemeikisRR20 MaySkopje, MacedoniaClay1–2LostRR21 May3–0WonRR22 May2–1Won1R23 May2–1LostF24 May2–1Won1999Europe/Africa Zone Group IIIAivaras Balžekas, Rolandas Muraška, Arūnas Rozga, Aistis Šlajus, Team capitan: Gracijus RemeikisRR9 JuneTallinn, EstoniaClay1–2LostRR10 June2–1WonRR11 June2–1Won1R12 June2–1WonF13 June1–2Lost
2000–2009 YearGroupTeamRoundDateLocationSurfaceOpponentScoreOutcome2000Europe/Africa Zone Group IIAivaras Balžekas, Rolandas Muraška, Paulius Jurkėnas1R28–30 AprilŠiauliai, LithuaniaCarpet (i)2–3LostPO21–23 Julyİzmir, TurkeyHard1–4Lost2001Europe/Africa Zone Group IIIRolandas Muraška, Arūnas Rozga, Aistis Šlajus, Playing capitan: Gitanas MažonasRR16 MayGaborone, BotswanaHard3–0WonRR17 May2–1WonRR18 May1–2Lost1R19 May1–2LostF20 May2–1Won2002Europe/Africa Zone Group IIIAivaras Balžekas, Rolandas Muraška, Gvidas Sabeckis, Playing capitan: Gitanas MažonasRR3 AprilAntalya, TurkeyClay1–2LostRR4 April3–0WonRR5 April0–3LostPO6 April3–0WonPO7 April3–0Won2003Europe/Africa Zone Group IIIAivaras Balžekas, Aurimas Karpavičius, Rolandas Muraška, Gvidas Sabeckis, Team capitan: Gitanas MažonasRR3 FebruarySidi Fredj, AlgeriaClay3–0WonRR4 February2–1WonRR5 February1–2LostPO6 February0–3LostPO7 February1–2Lost2004Europe/Africa Zone Group IIIAivaras Balžekas, Paulius Jurkėnas, Rolandas Muraška, Gvidas Sabeckis, Team capitan: Rimvydas MugevičiusRR4 FebruaryKaunas, LithuaniaCarpet (i)2–1WonRR6 February1–2LostPO7 February2–1WonPO8 February1–2Lost2005Europe/Africa Zone Group IIIArtūras Gotovskis, Daniel Lencina-Ribes, Rolandas Muraška, Gvidas Sabeckis, Team capitan: Rimvydas MugevičiusRR27 AprilCairo, EgyptClay2–1WonRR28 April3–0WonRR29 April1–2LostPO30 April3–0WonPO1 May2–1Won2006Europe/Africa Zone Group IIIMindaugas Čeledinas, Daniel Lencina-Ribes, Denis Riabuchin, Gvidas Sabeckis, Team capitan: Rimvydas MugevičiusRR19 JulyBanja Luka, Bosnia and HerzegovinaClay3–0WonRR20 July1–2LostRR21 July2–1WonPO22 July2–1WonPO23 July0–3Lost2007Europe/Africa Zone Group IIIRičardas Berankis, Daniel Lencina-Ribes, Simas Kučas, Gvidas Sabeckis, Team capitan: Rimvydas MugevičiusRR9 MayCairo, EgyptClay1–2LostRR10 May2–1WonRR11 May2–1WonPO12 May2–1WonPO13 May1–2Lost2008Europe/Africa Zone Group IIIMindaugas Čeledinas, Laurynas Grigelis, Gvidas Sabeckis, Playing capitan: Daniel Lencina-RibesRR7 MayYerevan, ArmeniaClay1–2LostRR8 May3–0WonRR9 May2–1WonPO10 May2–1WonPO11 May0–3Lost2009Europe/Africa Zone Group IIRičardas Berankis, Vadim Pinko, Gvidas Sabeckis, Dovydas Šakinis, Team capitans: Daniel Lencina-Ribes, Remigijus Balžekas1R6–8 MarchVilnius, LithuaniaHard (i)3–2WonQ10–12 JulyOtočec, SloveniaClay0–5Lost
2010–2019