The World Group is the highest level of Davis Cup competition in 2009. The first round losers go into the 2009 Davis Cup World Group Play-offs while the winners progress to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinalists are guaranteed a World Group spot for 2010.

First round losers play in World Group Play-offs

Sweden attracted controversy when they forbade fans from seeing the matches inside the Baltic Hall, fearing anti-Israeli violence. Several Swedish politicians, including the mayor of Malmo and the head of the Green Party, said that they wanted to cancel the match instead of having an Israeli team play in the city. A proposal to move the matches to Stockholm fell through because of limited preparation time. Israeli player Andy Ram condemned the switch, calling it a "stupid decision". In the end, anti-Israel protesters rioted outside the stadium while the Swedish team was stunned when Israel defeated them.

The Davis Cup fined the Swedish tennis federation $25,000 and ordered them to pay an additional $15,000 in what would have been gate receipts. The city of Malmö was also banned from hosting Davis Cup matches for the next five years, and Sweden will lose its choice of venue if it happens again, being required to guarantee that future matches will be open to the public.

World Group may refer to:

The 2009 Davis Cup was the 98th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. Sixteen teams participated in the World Group and more than one hundred other took part in different regional groups. Spain won their fourth title. It is the first year that the ITF awarded ATP rankings points to the players competing in the World Group and related Play-Offs.

The eight losing teams in the World Group first round ties, and eight winners of the Group I second round ties compete in the World Group Play-offs.

ATP Points distributed from 2009 onwards

Only World Group and World Group Play-Off matches and only live matches earn points. Dead rubbers earn no points.

¹ For the first rubber won 5 points is awarded, the second absorbed rubber grants 10 points that gives a total of 15 available points.

² If a player goes on to win a live rubber in later rounds, these 10 points are discounted. Only one loss can be converted to points.

³ Team bonus awarded to a singles player who wins 7 live matches in a calendar year and his team wins the competition.

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera (Catalan: [rəˈfɛɫ nəˈðaɫ pəˈɾeɾə]; Spanish: [rafaˈel naˈðal paˈɾeɾa]) (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. As of 28 May 2012 (2012 -05-28)^[update], he is ranked No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time; his success on clay has earned him the nickname "The King of Clay", and has prompted many experts to regard him as the greatest clay court player of all time.

Nadal has won ten Grand Slam singles titles, including a record six French Open titles (tied with Bjorn Borg), the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 21 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, and also was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011. He completed the Career Grand Slam by winning the 2010 US Open, being the seventh player in history, and the youngest in the open era, to achieve it. He is the second male player to complete the Career Golden Slam (winner of the four grand slams and the Olympic Gold medal) after only Andre Agassi.

Roger Federer (German pronunciation: [ˈfeːdəʁɐ]) (born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP No. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks from 2 February 2004 to 18 August 2008. Federer has occupied the #1 ranking for 285 overall weeks, one week short of the record 286 weeks held by Pete Sampras. As of 28 May 2012, he is ranked World No. 3. Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles. He is one of seven male players to capture the career Grand Slam and one of three (with Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal) to do so on three different surfaces (clay, grass, and hard courts). He is the only male player in tennis history to have reached the title match of each Grand Slam tournament at least five times and also the final at each of the nine ATP Masters 1000 Tournaments. Many sports analysts, tennis critics, and former and current players consider Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time.

Federer has appeared in an unprecedented 23 career Grand Slam tournament finals, including a men's record ten in a row, and appeared in 18 of 19 finals from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open, the lone exception being the 2008 Australian Open. He holds the record of reaching the semifinals or better of 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments over five and a half years, from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open. At the 2012 Australian Open, he reached a record 31st consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. During the course of his run at the 2012 French Open in Roland Garros, Federer eclipsed Jimmy Connors long standing record of 233 match wins in Grand Slam tournaments when he defeated Adrian Ungur in a second round match.