article_snippet: Playing America in the Davis Cup is not what it was twenty years ago, but there is still a cachet about the fixture that was the original challenge match for this competition when it was invented in 1900.
article_snippet: The last time a significant American team came to these parts a significant American team was Davis Cup five months ago at Gleneagles.
article_snippet: So, what’s the story with the Davis Cup, then?
article_snippet: Now heralded as the world’s largest annual team competition, with 122 nations taking part last year, the Davis Cup
article_snippet: ’s tennis actually looked more like the Davis Cup when it began in 1900 — when Harvard’s tennis team came up with the idea of pitting the best Americans against the finest players from the British Isles.
article_snippet: Having expanded to six teams in 1905, the Davis Cup responded to the onset of the Open era by going global in 1969.
highlights_snippet: Great Britain face USA in the Davis Cup