2015 Davis Cup

2015 Davis Cup
Details
Duration	6 February – 29 November 2015
Edition	104th
Champion
Winning Nation	Great Britain
	← 2014 2016 →

Last updated August 05, 2023

The 2015 Davis Cup was the 104th edition of the Davis Cup, a tournament between national teams in men's tennis. It was sponsored by BNP Paribas. Great Britain won their tenth title (their first since 1936), with Andy Murray defeating David Goffin of Belgium on clay in the final match held at Flanders Expo located in Ghent on 29 November 2015.

World Group

Participating teams
Argentina	Australia	Belgium	Brazil
Canada	Croatia	Czech Republic	France
Germany	Great Britain	Italy	Japan
Kazakhstan	Serbia	Switzerland	United States

Seeds

France (quarterfinals)
Switzerland (first round)
Czech Republic (first round)
Serbia (quarterfinals)
Argentina (semifinals)
Italy (first round)
United States (first round)
Canada (quarterfinals)

Draw


First round 6–8 March			Quarterfinals 17–19 July			Semifinals 18–20 September			Final 27–29 November

Frankfurt, Germany (indoor hard)

1	France	3
			London, Great Britain (grass)
	Germany	2
			1	France	1
Glasgow, Great Britain (indoor hard)
				Great Britain	3
7	United States	2
						Glasgow, Great Britain (indoor hard)
	Great Britain	3
						Great Britain		3
Ostrava, Czech Republic (indoor hard)
						Australia		2
3	Czech Republic	2
			Darwin, Australia (grass)
	Australia	3
			Australia		3
Astana, Kazakhstan (indoor hard)
			Kazakhstan		2
6	Italy	2
									Ghent, Belgium (indoor clay)
	Kazakhstan	3
									Great Britain	3
Buenos Aires, Argentina (clay)
									Belgium	1
	Brazil	2
			Buenos Aires, Argentina (indoor clay)
5	Argentina	3
			5	Argentina	4
Kraljevo, Serbia (indoor hard)
			4	Serbia	1
	Croatia	0
						Brussels, Belgium (indoor hard)
4	Serbia	5
						5	Argentina	2
Vancouver, Canada (indoor hard)
							Belgium	3
	Japan	2
			Middelkerke, Belgium (clay)
8	Canada	3
			8	Canada	0
Liège, Belgium (indoor hard)
				Belgium	5
	Belgium	3

2	Switzerland	2

Final

Belgium and Great Britain won through to the final by winning semi-final ties against Argentina and Australia respectively.^[1] This meant that Belgium would participate in their first Davis Cup final since 1904 (a 5–0 defeat against Great Britain), and Great Britain in their first since 1978.^[2]^[3] It also marked a remarkable recovery in fortunes for Great Britain, who had been in danger of relegation to the lowest division of the Davis Cup in 2010.^[3]

Belgium were drawn as the home team under the rotation policy used by the organizers.^[1] They chose to play the tie on a clay surface in the Flanders Expo, an indoor arena in Ghent.^[1] The Belgians opted for a clay surface in the hope of unsettling Andy Murray, the highest ranked player on either side.^[4] The choice of surface led Murray to question whether he would participate in the 2015 ATP World Tour Finals, played on a hard court in the week before the Davis Cup final, due to the difficulty in transitioning between surfaces.^[1]^[4] Murray's comments led ITF executive president Chris Kermode to state that the Tour Finals was a mandatory event.^[1]^[4] Murray participated in the finals, but was eliminated during the group stage.^[5]

On the weekend before the tie, transport systems in the capital city of Brussels were shut down by the Belgian authorities due to security concerns relating to the recent attacks in Paris.^[6] The British team delayed travelling to Belgium by 24 hours due to the security concerns, with the venue being located 35 km (22 mi) from Brussels.^[6]

For his squad, Belgium captain Johan Van Herck selected Kimmer Coppejans, Ruben Bemelmans, Steve Darcis and David Goffin.^[7] The team was led by Goffin, ranked 16th in the world and possessing a strong record in Davis Cup singles matches.^[7] Their selection was relatively straightforward, as no other Belgian players possessed significant Davis Cup experience or were ranked in the top 200.^[8] Great Britain captain Leon Smith named a five-man provisional squad of Murray, his brother Jamie, James Ward, Kyle Edmund and Dominic Inglot.^[9] The team was led by Andy Murray, ranked second in the world and likely to play in the doubles match with his brother.^[9] Smith later reduced the squad by omitting Inglot, a specialist doubles player who would only have been used if either Murray had been injured.^[10]

Smith opted to use Edmund in the opening singles instead of Ward, due to his recent success in winning an ATP Challenger Tour event held on clay (the 2015 Copa Fila).^[10] This meant that Edmund made his Davis Cup debut in the final, becoming only the sixth player in tournament history to make his debut in a final.^[10] Edmund made a flying start to the first singles tie, racing into a two-set lead against Goffin by hitting many forehand winners.^[11] Goffin fought back to win in five sets, winning 14 of the last 15 games.^[11] Murray levelled the tie by winning in straight sets against Bemelmans.^[11] Smith commented that it was the score that would have been expected after the first day, with the two higher-ranked players winning their matches.^[11]

With the tie standing level after the first day, Belgian captain Van Herck gambled by selecting Goffin for the doubles (alongside Darcis) instead of Bemelmans.^[8] This was an attempt to win the tie by winning the doubles and the two singles matches not contested by Andy Murray.^[8] Van Herck also justified his decision by saying he felt they would have a better chance to win by playing from the back of the court, instead of playing a more typical doubles match at the net.^[12] The tactic appeared to work, as the Belgian pair won the second set to level the match and then took an early lead in the third.^[12] Darcis weakened later in the match and his serve was broken later in the third set, won 6–3 by the Murrays.^[12] After Jamie survived seven break points on his serve midway through the fourth set, the Darcis serve was broken again.^[12] Andy then closed out the victory, giving Great Britain a 2–1 lead.^[12]

Going into the final day, Belgium hoped that Goffin would defeat Andy Murray and force the tie into a decisive fifth rubber.^[12] The teams would then have faced an open choice of the other team members for that match, with Edmund nominally scheduled to play Bemelmans.^[12] Goffin had only won one game in a recent meeting with Murray, but gave him a much harder match, which ran to almost three hours.^[13] Murray survived a break point at 2–2 in the first set, but then raced to a 5–2 lead.^[13] Goffin survived three set points on his own serve, but Murray then clinched the set in his next service game.^[13] Goffin again resisted pressure on his own serve for most of the second set, but was broken in the 11th game.^[13] Murray held serve to win the second set.^[13] Goffin then fought back by breaking the Murray serve early in the third set, but was then immediately broken himself.^[13] Murray then raced to victory, winning the match on his second match point with a backhand lob.^[13] This gave Great Britain an unassailable 3–1 lead, with the two teams opting not to play the dead fifth rubber.^[13]

The win was Great Britain's first Davis Cup victory since 1936, when Fred Perry and Bunny Austin contributed to a final win against Australia.^[13] Andy Murray became only the third player, after John McEnroe and Mats Wilander, to win the maximum eight singles matches in a Davis Cup tournament.^[13] With his three victories in doubles matches with his brother, he also became only the fourth man to win 11 points in a tournament.^[13]^[14]

Summary

Belgium
1

Flanders Expo, Ghent, Belgium ^[15]
27–29 November 2015
Clay (i)

Great Britain
3

		1	2	3	4	5
1	David Goffin Kyle Edmund	3 6	1 6	6 2	6 1	6 0
2	Ruben Bemelmans Andy Murray	3 6	2 6	5 7
3	Steve Darcis / David Goffin Andy Murray / Jamie Murray	4 6	6 4	3 6	2 6
4	David Goffin Andy Murray	3 6	5 7	3 6
5	Ruben Bemelmans Kyle Edmund						not played

World Group play-offs

Date: 18–20 September

The eight losing teams in the World Group, first round ties, and eight winners of the Zonal Group I final round ties competed in the World Group play-offs for spots in the 2016 World Group.

Seeded teams

Unseeded teams

Home team	Score	Visiting team	Location	Venue	Door	Surface
India	1–3	Czech Republic	New Delhi	R.K. Khanna Tennis Complex	Outdoor	Hard
Switzerland	4–1	Netherlands	Geneva	Palexpo	Indoor	Hard
Russia	1–4	Italy	Irkutsk	Baikal Arena	Indoor	Hard
Uzbekistan	1–3	United States	Tashkent	Olympic Tennis School	Outdoor	Clay
Colombia	2–3	Japan	Pereira	Club Campestre	Outdoor	Clay
Dominican Republic	1–4	Germany	Santo Domingo	Centro Nacional de Tenis del Parque del Este	Outdoor	Hard
Brazil	1–3	Croatia	Florianópolis	Costão do Santinho	Outdoor	Clay
Poland	3–2	Slovakia	Gdynia	Gdynia Sports Arena	Indoor	Hard

Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland and United States remained in the World Group in 2016.
Poland was promoted to the World Group in 2016.
Brazil was relegated to Zonal Group I in 2016.
Colombia, Dominican Republic, India, Netherlands, Russia, Slovakia and Uzbekistan remained in Zonal Group I in 2016.

Americas Zone

Group I

Seeds: All seeds and Uruguay received a bye into the second round.

Remaining nations:

Draw

Second Round Play-offs

First Round Play-offs

First Round

Second Round

1

Colombia

bye

Montevideo, Uruguay (clay)

bye

1

Colombia

3

Uruguay

2

Uruguay

Saint Michael, Barbados (hard)

bye

Uruguay

2

Barbados

3

Saint Michael, Barbados (hard)

Barbados

2

Saint Michael, Barbados (hard)

Dominican Republic

3

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (clay)

Barbados

2

Dominican Republic

3

Ecuador

3

2

Ecuador

2

bye

2

Ecuador

Uruguay relegated to Group II in 2016.
Colombia and Dominican Republic advance to World Group Play-off.

Group II

Seeds:

Remaining nations:

Draw


Play-offs		First Round			Second Round			Third Round

		Caracas, Venezuela (hard)

		1	Venezuela	5

Bayamón, Puerto Rico (hard)			Costa Rica	0	Caracas, Venezuela (hard)

Costa Rica	0				1	Venezuela	3

Puerto Rico	5	Humacao, Puerto Rico (hard)			3	El Salvador	2

		3	El Salvador	3

			Puerto Rico	2				Santiago, Chile (clay)

								1	Venezuela	0

		Mérida, Mexico (hard)						2	Chile	5

			Bolivia	1

Lima, Peru (clay)		4	Mexico	3	Talcahuano, Chile (indoor clay)

Bolivia	2				4	Mexico	0

Peru	3	Santiago, Chile (clay)			2	Chile	5

			Peru	0

		2	Chile	5

Costa Rica and Bolivia relegated to Group III in 2016.
Chile promoted to Group I in 2016.

Group III

Date: 20–25 July

Location: Panama City, Panama (clay)

Group A

	Paraguay	Cuba	Honduras	Panama	RR W–L	Matches W–L	Sets W–L	Games W–L	Standings
Paraguay		3–0	3–0	3–0	3–0	9–0	18–2	114–65	1
Cuba	0–3		2–1	3–0	2–1	5–4	12–9	104–100	2
Honduras	0–3	1–2		2–1	1–2	3–6	7–14	86–111	3
Panama	0–3	0–3	1–2		0–3	1–8	5–17	92–120	4

Group B

	Guatemala	Jamaica	Bahamas	Trinidad and Tobago	Bermuda	RR W–L	Matches W–L	Sets W–L	Games W–L	Standings
Guatemala		2–1	3–0	3–0	3–0	4–0	11–1	22–5	157–98	1
Jamaica	1–2		2–1	3–0	2–1	3–1	8–4	18–9	142–120	2
Bahamas	0–3	1–2		2–1	3–0	2–2	6–6	14–12	128–122	3
Trinidad and Tobago	0–3	0–3	1–2		2–1	1–3	3–9	6–20	97–144	4
Bermuda	0–3	1–2	0–3	1–2		0–4	2–10	7–21	114–154	5

7th-place play-off

Panama 2–0 Trinidad and Tobago

5th-place play-off

Honduras 2–0 Bahamas

Promotion play-off

Paraguay 2–0 Jamaica
Guatemala 2–0 Cuba

Paraguay and Guatemala promoted to Group II in 2016.