With Andy Murray in prime form, two more young players in top 60 and a super doubles team in the Murray brothers, Great Britain were favourites to win the 2016 Davis Cup semi final at home versus Argentina.
Yet Argentina shocked Great Britain 3-2 to enter the Davis Cup finals against Croatia who won against a weakened France.
In the first match Juan Martin Del Potro, ranked 64, shocked world No.2 Murray in a five setter. This ultimately proved crucial as Murray had been expected to win all his three matches. Then in a battle of equals world No.49 Guido Pella won against world No.55 Kyle Edmund.
Britain as expected won the doubles and then Murray won his reverse singles comfortably. However the surprise was that Del Potro played the doubles. The gamble didn’t pay off.
Surprisingly the world No. 114 Leo Mayer was fielded against Evans and he pulled it off, playing like a top 20 player and not someone ranked below 100. He is a former No.21 and had an unbeaten run of eight singles wins, which may have led his captain to place his trust in him instead of Del Potro, who had already played several hours of singles and doubles.
This great Davis Cup win made me think about a couple of more great wins in Davis Cup history.
Germany versus Sweden 1988
The Swedish team defined greatness with as many as seven Davis Cup finals in a row from 1983 to 1989. They had won the Davis Cup in 1984, 1985 and 1987.
In 1988 they were supposed to play West Germany on slow clay at Gothenburg and they seemed all set for their fourth Davis Cup in six years.
The second singles player for Germany was Carl-uwe Steeb who at that point of time did not have a singles championship win in any tournament and had only a fourth round performance as a best show in a Grand Slam. He was up against Wilander, a seven-time Grand Slam winner who had won three majors in that year 1988.
Yet Steeb came back from 0-2 sets down against Wilander to win 8-10, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 and 8-6. Then the great Boris Becker played a super match to defeat the equally great Edberg in a one-sided match 6-3, 6-1 and 6-4.
However still Sweden would have had hopes as their doubles team was very strong. In contrast West Germany had Becker and Eric Jelen who had never reached even a fourth round in a Grand Slam doubles.
The match started as expected with Edberg-Anders Jarryd lifting the first two sets at three and two However in an enthralling comeback Becker and Jelen lifted the Davis Cup by winning the final three sets 7-5, 6-3 and 6-2.
The next year too they went on to retain the Davis Cup by winning against the same opponents, but at home.
France versus USA 1991
USA with both Pete Sampras as well as Andre Agassi playing singles were obviously expected to win versus France for whom Guy Forget and Henri Leconte were playing singles.
Agassi started well for USA by winning his match versus Guy Forget in four sets but then Leconte shocked Pete Sampras by winning against him in straight sets. Ken Flach and Robert Seguso were a strong doubles team for USA but Leconte and Forget combined well to take France to a 2-1 lead.
Still it seemed that Sampras and Agassi would pull it off. However Forget played stunning tennis to defeat Pistol Pete and lift their first Davis Cup in almost 60 years.
I am sure Roarers will have several more interesting wins to share about regarding this glorious championship.
clipper
Guest
I think you can argue that the early days NZ and Australia combined and won a few, so NZ should be included, as Anthony Wilding was instrumental to their triumphs.
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
Yes Anindya you are right. This was an incredible upset. So also was the 1987 win of India over Australia where India upset Australia on grass at Sydney
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
I stand corrected however on the statement that only US and Australia had won the Davis Cip until then. That is of course incorrect because Britain and France won it several times before that.
Chinmoy Jena
Guest
Yes, India's victory over Australia in 1974 would rank very high in the list of Davis Cup upsets.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Ritesh - I think you have missed one of the most incredible upsets in Davis Cup history. The year was 1974. No team other than United States and Australia had ever won the Davis Cup until then. India met Australia at Calcutta in May and came away with a 3-2 victory. Vijay Amritraj and Jasjit Singh both beat Bob Giltinan and Vijay and Anand Amritraj won the doubles as well. John Alexander won both his singles. India then beat the Soviet Union and gave a walkover to South Africa in the finals because of apartheid. With the team India had, the cup was theirs for the taking. Nevertheless, this win v Australia at the time ranks very high indeed among famous David Cup victories.
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
Excellent points Clipper. Appreciated Stepenak played well both in 2012 and 2013 and while clinching the doubles with partner won the last , tense tie to see his nation lift the Davis Cup. Very correct . Spain in 2012 were certainly the favorites and Stepenak defeating Alamagro in the crucial 5th match was a super show.
clipper
Guest
Del Potro is definitely not a player that plays what he is ranked. The way is he is playing he is a top 5 player, so don't think it's a surprise beating Murray. Don't think the USA France tie was that great a shock - Leconte could be brilliant at times and I think the indoor carpet played a little like clay, so therefore Sampras would be quite beatable. My pick would be Czech republic beating Spain in 2012 - Stepenak played well above his ranking.
Donde es Fuss
Guest
Any match where England loses has to be number 1. It was it Great Britain ? They seem to chop and change whenever it suits them