Great Britain Davis Cup records that may never be broken
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Having been a part of the first-ever Davis Cup against USA back in 1900, Great Britain boast a rich history in the men’s World Cup of Tennis.
10-time champions, eight-time runners-up and many years of memories – the Brits have been one of the leading nations at the Davis Cup and have had several incredible players along the way.
Here, we break down some of Great Britain’s Davis Cup records that may never be broken:
Fred Perry’s 45 wins for Great Britain
Legendary British tennis star Fred Perry holds the record for the most match wins for GB at the Davis Cup with 45 (singles and doubles).
Perry led Great Britain to four Davis Cup titles in his six years with the team between 1931 and 1936 and is widely regarded as one of the best players in the competition’s history.
Perry won his first 13 matches at the Davis Cup in his debut season and went on to develop key rivalries with the likes of Frank Shields (USA), Sidney Jr Wood (USA) and Henri Cochet (FRA) to name a few.
His 45-7 record will be very hard for anyone to catch given Perry and GB’s dominance in the event during that period. Andy Murray came close with 42 combined wins and Mike Sangster finished on 43, but neither managed to break this long-standing record.
Andy Murray & Greg Rusedski’s longevity
Murray and former British No.1 Greg Rusedski are two of the most well-known British players of the last 30 years and both hold the record for the most years in which they competed at the Davis Cup for GB - 13.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray made his debut in 2005 becoming Britain’s youngest-ever player (17) and played all but one year up until 2017 where he was forced to miss out with injury. After making his return in 2019, Murray also competed at the home Group Stages hosted in Glasgow (2022) and Manchester (2023).
Meanwhile, Rusedski broke into the team in 1995, where he won both his matches in a tie against Monaco. The 1997 US Open runner-up played for 13-straight years, featuring in the World Group several times.
Colin Gregory – Britain’s oldest ever Davis Cup player
Colin Gregory is a name you might have heard too much about, but he holds a special place in the history books as the oldest player to represent GB at the Davis Cup.
Having played for the Brits between 1926 and 1930 – Gregory returned to play 22 years later in the second round of the 1952 competition.
At the age of 48, Gregory teamed up with Tony Mottram to win a crucial doubles rubber against Yugoslavia 6-4, 1-6, 9-11, 6-2, 6-2.
It’s hard to see another player featuring for the Brits at 48-years-old, but who knows – if Gregory can do it then why not…
Leon Smith’s reign as captain
In 2010, Leon Smith was announced as the new Great Britain Davis Cup Captain – becoming the youngest Captain since Ross Hutchins in 1976.
To date (2024), Smith has managed the side for 14 years, which is the longest reign of any Great Britain Davis Cup Captain in history.
Under Smith’s management, the team returned to the World Group in 2013 before going on to win an historic title in 2015 – Great Britain’s first in 79 years.
He has since led the team to the semi-finals in 2016 and 2019 as well as the quarter-finals in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023.
Murray’s singles dominance
Only three players have won more than 30 singles matches for Great Britain – Perry (37), Benny Austin (34) and Murray (33) – but only one of them has a winning percentage over 90%.
Murray’s dominance on the singles court for the Brits is unrivalled – losing just three rubbers in 33 matches during his 13 years of competing.
Arguably his greatest achievement was leading his team to the title in 2015, winning every singles match, including victories against Donald Young, John Isner, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Bernard Tomic, Ruben Bemelmans and David Goffin.
A Murray victory at a Davis Cup was almost a guarantee right up to his final match for the Brits in 2023, where he defeated Switzerland’s Leandro Riedi in three sets.
James Ward wins longest-ever match
Great Britain’s 2015 win almost never happened, if not for unlikely hero James Ward and his legendary win against John Isner in the opening tie against USA.
In front of the home crowd in Glasgow, Ward came back from two sets down to beat the world No.20 6-7(4), 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(3), 15-13 in four hours and 58 minutes.
This five-set marathon remains Great Britain’s longest-ever match in Davis Cup history, which might never be broken given the move to the best of three-sets format featured today.
Bobby Wilson lights up the doubles court
Bobby Wilson is another of the all-time greats when it comes to the Davis Cup and no British player has bettered his record of 25 doubles victories.
The former Wimbledon doubles runner-up from Middlesex played with several partners during his years competing for the Brits, including Mike Davies, Mike Sangster, Billy Knight, Tony Pickard, Roger Taylor, Mark Cox and Paul Hutchins.
Him and Sangster are Great Britain’s most successful doubles partnership of all-time in the Davis Cup (11-3) and Wilson is one of only five players to win over 40 matches for GB (Perry, Sangster, Murray and Tim Henman).
Wilson also holds the record for the most ties played for Great Britain with 34.
