• WHO was the DAVIS CUP named after ?

    Most of us have heard his name, but few remember who (and what) he was ... 

    France has just won the 2017 Davis Cup. But who knows of the man the Cup was named after ? 

     

    Dwight Filley Davis (St. Louis, 1879 –Washington D.C., 1945) an American tennis player and politician was also the founder of the Davis Cup international tennis competition. He later became the Assistant Secretary of War (1923-1925) and Secretary of War (1925-1929). He fought in France during WW1.

     

    A really talented international tennis player, he imagined an international competition he named « International Lawn Tennis Challenge » (1900). For its winner, he donated a silver bowl he had been offered on his wedding list ! That’s why each winner up to the present has been awarded a « saladier d’argent ».* Davis’s challenge developed and was later renamed the Davis Cup. He won the first two competitions in 1900 and 1902with the U.S. national team.

     

    * The names of all the winners are engraved on the double pedestal of this bowl.


    Tags Tags: ,
  • Comments

    No comments yet

    Suivre le flux RSS des commentaires


    Add comment

    Name / User name:

    E-mail (optional):

    Website (optional):

    Comment: