ITF

It was a memorable year for Davis Cup by BNP Paribas. Switzerland became the 14th nation to win the competition, defeating France in the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille, with Roger Federer clinching the decisive point to trigger national celebrations back home. The Final featured four Top 20 players, with Switzerland alone able to field world No. 2 Federer and No. 4 Stan Wawrinka. Two new records for attendance at a sanctioned tennis event were set during the three days of the tie. On the Friday, 27,424 people turned out to watch Wawrinka defeat world No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets, only for the visitors' lead to be cancelled out by Federer's shock straight-sets loss to No. 19 Gael Monfils. This was trumped however by the 27,448 people in the crowd on Sunday who came to see if France could rally from 1-2 down following Federer and Wawrinka's win against Richard Gasquet and Julien Benneteau in Saturday's doubles. However, Federer swept past Gasquet in straight sets to seal a 3-1 victory and hand the Davis Cup trophy to Switzerland for the first time in the competition's 115-year history. The heroes of the 1991 campaign, Guy Forget and Henri Leconte, received the ITF/ITHF Davis Cup Award of Excellence and Pierre Darmon was presented with the Davis Cup Commitment Award. The Final broke records on the web too, with almost 1.4 million visits to the ITF's official sites DavisCup.com and CopaDavis. com. On television, 10.24 million viewers watched the Final in France while 6.03 million followed the action in Switzerland. The preceding World Group semifinals were also high-profile events held at large venues, with total attendance reaching nearly 100,000 for Switzerland versus Italy held at Geneva's Palexpo and France versus Czech Republic staged at Roland Garros. Italy enjoyed a good year in Davis Cup, returning to the semifinals for the first time since 1998 thanks to its defeat of Great Britain in the quarterfinals, the Brits having won their first World Group match in 28 years to get there. Japan claimed its first-ever World Group victory by defeating Canada in the opening round. Five-time champion Spain meanwhile fell out of the World Group for the first time since 1996. The Davis Cup Commitment Award, given to recognise a player's dedication to representing their country, continued to be presented during 2014. A total of 327 players had qualified to receive the award by the end of the year. One hundred and twenty-two nations competed in the event in either the elite 16-nation World Group or in one of 11 groups in the three regional zones: Americas, Asia/Oceania and Europe/Africa. In all, 566 players took part, including 22 of the world's Top 30 players. Off the court, 600,000 spectators watched Davis Cup ties in 58 countries, with 82 home-and-away ties and seven zone group events held. It was another successful year for Davis Cup on television. The 2014 Davis Cup World Group was watched by more than 98 million viewers – an increase of 47 per cent on the previous year – from 6,608 hours of coverage. In total the competition was broadcast in over 150 territories by 63 broadcasters. The Davis Cup websites in English and Spanish enjoyed a 30 per cent growth in 2014, with 6.9 million visits, 3.6 million unique visitors and over 30 million page views achieved by the end of the Final. The competition's social media properties in English, Spanish and Chinese saw a 90 per cent increase in users, with 180,000 Twitter followers and 300,000 Facebook likes. The "Show Your Colours" campaign was a major boost to the competition. Focused on fan involvement and designed to promote both Davis Cup and Fed Cup as the world cups of tennis, it created a common look around the world, and encouraged fans to support their teams at ties and via social media. BNP Paribas completed its 13th year of title sponsorship and was joined by international sponsors Rolex (Official Timekeeper), Adecco (Official HR Sponsor), NH Hotels (Official Hotel), and international partner Wilson Sporting Goods (Official Ball). PROFESSIONAL TENNIS: DAVIS CUP BY BNP PARIBAS 07 DAVIS CUP BY BNP PARIBAS

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