The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tournament was held in 1976 and 1977. From 1978 through 2012 the tournament was held annually in Düsseldorf, Germany. It was generally considered to be second most prestigious men's team competition in tennis after the Davis Cup.
Every year, the eight nations whose top two male players have achieved the highest combined placings in the men's world rankings at the end of the previous year were invited to compete for the cup.
The competition was played on clay courts in Düsseldorf, Germany. The event was generally regarded as the sports highlight of the social scene in the Düsseldorf area. It attracted around 75,000 visitors every year and was televised to over 160 countries.
From 1978 to 1981 the tournament was held under the name "Ambre Solaire Nations Cup", from 1982 until 1986 it was named "Ambre Solaire World Team Cup", from 1987–1999 "Peugeot World Team Cup" and from 2000 the event's main sponsor until 2010 was the ARAG Insurance Group, and its sponsored name was the "ARAG World Team Cup".
After ARAG discontinued sponsorship for the event and organizers failed to find a new sponsor, the 2011 edition of the tournament was initially cancelled. However, a new sponsor — Power Horse — was found in January 2011 and the 2011 edition took place between May 15–21 under the name "Power Horse World Team Cup".
In October 2012 it was announced that the World Team Cup event would be discontinued and replaced by the Power Horse Cup, an ATP 250 tournament in Düsseldorf.
In September 2017 it was announced that there were plans to revive the tournament: the ATP had proposed a 24 team tournament to be played over 10 days at venues around Australia in January, which would offer 1000 ranking points to any player who won all their matches.Reuters
In January 2018 it was mooted to start in 2019 or 2020 with the backing from Tennis Australia, In the end, the ATP decided to launch the competition as the ATP Cup, a separate tournament to the World Team Cup, in 2020.
On 7 August 2022, Tennis Australia announced that the ATP Cup would be shut down, to be replaced by a mixed-gender United Cup from 2023.
Past finals
YearChampionsRunners-upScore 1975 United States Great Britain 2–1 1976 Not held 1977 Not held 1978 Spain Australia 2–1 1979 Australia Italy 2–1 1980 Argentina Italy 3–0 1981 Czechoslovakia Australia 2–1 1982 United States Australia 2–0 1983 Spain Australia 2–1 1984 United States Czechoslovakia 2–1 1985 United States Czechoslovakia 2–1 1986 France Sweden 2–1 1987 Czechoslovakia United States 2–1 1988 Sweden United States 2–0 1989 West Germany Argentina 2–1 1990 Yugoslavia United States 3–0 1991 Sweden Yugoslavia 2–1 1992 Spain Czech Republic 2–0 1993 United States Germany 3–0 1994 Germany Spain 2–1 1995 Sweden Croatia 2–1 1996 Switzerland Czech Republic 2–1 1997 Spain Australia 3–0 1998 Germany Czech Republic 3–0 1999 Australia Sweden 2–1 2000 Slovakia Russia 3–0 2001 Australia Russia 2–1 2002 Argentina Russia 3–0 2003 Chile Czech Republic 2–1 2004 Chile Australia 2–1 2005 Germany Argentina 2–1 2006 Croatia Germany 2–1 2007 Argentina Czech Republic 2–1 2008 Sweden Russia 2–1 2009 Serbia Germany 2–1 2010 Argentina United States 2–1 2011 Germany Argentina 2–1 2012 Serbia Czech Republic 3–0 2020 Serbia Spain 2–1 2021 Russia Italy 2–0 2022 Canadá Spain 2–0
Titles by country Titles won Country Years Won Runners Up5 United States 1975, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1993 (5) 1987, 1988, 1990, 2010 (4) Germany 1989, 1994, 1998, 2005, 2011 (5) 1993, 2006, 2009 (3)4 Argentina 1980, 2002, 2007, 2010 (4) 1989, 2005, 2011 (3) Sweden 1988, 1991, 1995, 2008 (4) 1986, 1999 (2) Spain 1978, 1983, 1992, 1997 (4) 1994 (1)3 Australia 1979, 1999, 2001 (3) 1978, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1997, 2004 (6) Serbia 2009, 2012, 2020 (3) 2 Czechoslovakia 1981, 1987 (2) 1984, 1985 (2) Chile 2003, 2004 (2) 1 Yugoslavia 1990 (1) 1991 (1) Croatia 2006 (1) 1995 (1) France 1986 (1) Switzerland 1996 (1) Slovakia 2000 (1)0 Czech Republic 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2012 (6) Russia 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008 (4) Italy 1979, 1980 (2) Great Britain 1975 (1)
Point distribution
Fair Play Trophy Presented since 1989, the Fair Play Trophy was awarded by an international jury of tennis journalists and the captains of the competing nations.
YearPlayer Stefan Edberg Martín Jaite Eric Jelen Guy Forget Pete Sampras Magnus Gustafsson Stefan Edberg Jakob Hlasek Michael Stich Petr Korda Àlex Corretja Patrick Rafter Patrick Rafter Pete Sampras Todd Martin Sjeng Schalken Jonas Björkman James Blake Jonas Björkman James Blake Rainer Schüttler Lleyton Hewitt Philipp Kohlschreiber Robin Söderling Tomáš Berdych
See also Davis Cup ATP Cup Fed Cup Hopman Cup
References
External links