Switzerland Davis Cup team

Switzerland
Captain	Severin Lüthi
ITF ranking	7 (2)
Colors	Red & white
First year	1923
Years played	85
Ties played (W–L)	158 (74–84)
Years in World Group	23 (11–22)
Runners-up	1 (1992)
Most total wins	Jakob Hlasek (49–30)
Most singles wins	Roger Federer (36–7)
Most doubles wins	Jakob Hlasek (15–10)
Best doubles team	Jakob Hlasek/ Marc Rosset (7–5) Markus Günthardt/ Heinz Günthardt (7–5)
Most ties played	Heinz Gunthardt (30)
Most years played	Heinz Gunthardt (15)

The Switzerland Davis Cup team represents Switzerland in the Davis Cup tennis competition and is governed by Swiss Tennis.

In 2007, Switzerland competed in the World Group for the 13th consecutive year, the third longest ongoing streak, before being relegated after losing 3–2 against the Czech Republic.

Switzerland has never won the Davis Cup, but it finished as the runner-up in 1992 and reached the semifinal in 2003 and 2014.

Current squad (2014)

Player	Career High Rank	First year played	Total Win/Loss	Singles Win/Loss	Doubles Win/Loss
Roger Federer	1	1999	47–16	36–7	11–9
Stanislas Wawrinka	3	2004	23–24	20–13	3–11
Marco Chiudinelli	52	2005	7–14	6–11	1–3
Michael Lammer	150	2006	4–6	1–6	3–0
Henri Laaksonen	187	2013	1–1	1–1	0–0

History

Switzerland competed in its first Davis Cup in the 1923. Switzerland's best performance was in 1992, when the team finished as the runner-up.

Later, Switzerland was a quarterfinalist in 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2004 and a semifinalist in 2003 and 2014.

1992 campaign

The semifinal against Brazil (won 5-0) in the Geneva Palexpo established a Swiss record for the largest attendance at a tennis game (15'000 people).

The team was led by Marc Rosset and Jakob Hlasek and completed by Claudio Mezzadri and Thierry Grin. It lost the final 3-1 to a tough United States team consisting of Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, and John McEnroe.

United States 3	Tarrant County Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas, USA 4–6 December 1992 Hard (indoor)		Switzerland 1
1 2 3 4 5 1 Andre Agassi Jakob Hlasek 6 1 6 2 6 2       2 Jim Courier Marc Rosset 3 6 7 6 6 3 4 6 4 6   3 John McEnroe / Pete Sampras Jakob Hlasek / Marc Rosset 6 7 6 7 7 6 6 1 6 2   4 Jim Courier Jakob Hlasek 6 3 3 6 6 3 6 4     5 Andre Agassi Marc Rosset 0 0 0 0 0 0

The fifthe rubber between Andre Agassi and Marc Rosset was not played.

2003 campaign

The Swiss Team in 2003 had the particularity to have a playing captain in the person of 1992 Olympic champion and Davis Cup finalist Marc Rosset, who partnered Federer in the doubles against France (QF) and Australia (SF). The 2003 team further included Michel Kratochvil and George Bastl. The team had to play its 3 matches away from home.

After a very tight first round in Arnhem, Netherlands (Michel Kratochvil won the decisive rubber against Martin Verkerk), Switzerland recorded a convincing win against France in Toulouse during which Rosset/Federer showed their strength as a doubles team and Federer outplayed Fabrice Santoro 6-1 6-0 6-2 in the 4th rubber.

For the semifinal, Switzerland had to travel to the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne for the semifinal against Australia with Hewitt, Philippoussis and doubles specialists Woodbridge and Arthurs. After the expected wins of Hewitt against Kratochvil and Federer against Phlippoussis, the doubles appeared to be the turning point, very much like in the 1992 final. Federer/Rosset lost in 5 sets and Federer then had to play Hewitt for survival. After winning the first two sets 7-5 and 6-2, Hewitt fought back and won the next three sets 7-6 7-5 6-1. This is still considered one of Federer's most painful defeats ever.

For the final, Switzerland would have faced Spain in the Bern Arena, which was already booked to receive the event.

2014 campaign

After the failed attempt of 2003, Switzerland never came really close to a semifinal again. This was also due to the repeated absence of Federer for first round games, as he privileged his personal career during certain years. However, 2014 suddenly became the year of great hopes when Federer declared himself available for the first round of the World Group against Serbia, who was playing without its best players Djokovic (exhausted after the Australian Open), Tipsarevic (injured) and Troicki (suspended). Also, the Swiss Team now comprised for the first time two Grand Slam champions after Wawrinka won the Australian Open 2014.

The draw for the World Group looked quite favourable for the Swiss with a quarterfinal against Kazakhstan or Belgium and possibly a semifinal against Italy (led by Fognini) or Great Britain (led by Murray). This might have been the reason for Federer's decision to play the first round, as the Davis Cup is one of the few titles still missing in his career.

Switzerland won the first round against Serbia 3-2 in Novi Sad. The game was decided 3-0 on Saturday already after Chiudinelli and Lammer brought the winning point in the doubles.

For the quarterfinal, Switzerland faced Kazakhstan in Geneva. A poor performance by Wawrinka (lost his first singles and the doubles) almost caused the elimination of the Swiss team, so that Federer had to play a deciding fifth rubber against Golubev, which he won.

For the semifinal against Italy, a new record attendance for a Swiss Tennis game was set with a public of 18'400 in the Geneva Palexpo. All tickets were sold out in less than 3 hours. Captains Severin Lüthi and Corrado Barazzutti called the following players:

Switzerland: Federer (ATP 3), Wawrinka (ATP 4), Chiudinelli (ATP 161), Lammer (ATP 497).

Italy: Fognini (ATP 17), Seppi (ATP 48), Bolelli (ATP 76), Lorenzi (ATP 78).

For the Swiss Team, Yann Marti (ATP 209) was called as a fifth player acting as a sparring partner. He was allowed to wear the team uniform for the first time and to stay with the team the whole week.

Switzerland 2	Palexpo, Geneva, Switzerland 12–14 September 2014 Rebound Ace (indoor)		Italy 0
1 2 3 4 5 1 Roger Federer Simone Bolelli 7 6 6 4 6 4       2 Stanislas Wawrinka Fabio Fognini 6 2 6 3 6 2       3 Roger Federer / Marco Chiudinelli Fabio Fognini / Simone Bolelli 0 0 0 0 0 0       4 Roger Federer Fabio Fognini 0 0 0 0 0 0       5 Stanislas Wawrinka Simone Bolelli 0 0 0 0 0 0

Roger Federer succeeded to Jakob Hlasek as the Swiss player with most singles wins (35) through his 2014 Quarterfinals victory in the decisive rubber over Andrey Golubev.

Results

2010s

Year	Competition	Date	Location	Opponent	Score	Result
2010	World Group, First Round	5–7 Mar	Logrono	Spain	1–4	Lost
	World Group, Play-offs	14–16 Sep	Astana	Kazakhstan	0–5	Lost
2011	Europe/Africa Group, Quarterfinals	8–10 Jul	Bern	Portugal	5–0	Won
	World Group, Play-offs	16–18 Sep	Sydney	Australia	3–2	Won
2012	World Group, First Round	10–12 Feb	Fribourg	United States	0–5	Lost
	World Group, Play-offs	14–16 Sep	Amsterdam	Netherlands	3–2	Won
2013	World Group, First Round	1–3 Feb	Geneva	Czech Republic	2–3	Lost
	World Group, Play-offs	13–15 Sep	Neuchâtel	Ecuador	4–1	Won
2014	World Group, First Round	31 Jan–2 Feb	Novi Sad	Serbia	3–2	Won
	World Group, Quarterfinals	4–6 Apr	Geneva	Kazakhstan	3–2	Won
	World Group, Semifinals	12–14 Sep	Geneva	Italy	0–0	Pending

References

• Davis Cup
• Switzerland Fed Cup team

External links

• Team page on DavisCup.com, the official website of the Davis Cup