The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By 2007, 137 nations entered teams into the competition. The most successful countries over the history of the tournament are the United States (winning 32 tournaments and finishing as runners-up 29 times) and Australia (winning 28 times, including four occasions with New Zealand under the name 'Australasia', and finishing as runners-up 19 times). The present champion is Spain who beat Argentina to claim the title.

The tournament was conceived in 1899 by four members of the Harvard University tennis team who wished to challenge the British to a tennis competition. Once their respective lawn tennis associations agreed, one of the four Harvard players, Dwight F. Davis, designed a tournament format and ordered an appropriate sterling silver trophy from Shreve, Crump & Low, purchasing it from his own funds for about $1000. They in turn commissioned a classically-styled design from William B. Durgin's of Concord, New Hampshire, crafted by the Englishman Rowland Rhodes. Davis went on to become a prominent politician in the United States in the 1920s, serving as US Secretary of War from 1925–29 and as Governor-General of the Philippines from 1929–32.

Andrew "Andy" Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a Scottish professional tennis player, ranked No. 4 in the world, and was ranked No. 2 from 17 to 31 August 2009. Murray achieved a top-10 ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals for the first time on 16 April 2007. He has been runner-up in three Grand Slam finals: the 2008 US Open, the 2010 Australian Open and the 2011 Australian Open, losing the first two to Roger Federer and the third to Novak Djokovic. In 2011, Murray became only the seventh player in the Open Era to reach the semi-finals of all four Grand Slam tournaments in one year.

Andy Murray was born to Will and Judy in Glasgow, Scotland. His maternal grandfather, Roy Erskine, was a professional footballer who played reserve team matches for Hibernian and in the Scottish Football League for Stirling Albion and Cowdenbeath. Murray's brother, Jamie, is also a professional tennis player, playing on the doubles circuit. Following the separation of his parents when he was nine years old, Andy and Jamie lived with their father. Murray later attended Dunblane High School. Murray is in a five-year relationship with Kim Sears, who is regularly seen attending his matches. The relationship ended briefly in 2009 before they reconciled a short time later in 2010.

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.

Ilija Bozoljac (Serbian Cyrillic: Илија Бозољац; Serbian pronunciation: [ˈilija bɔˈzɔːʎats]) (born August 2, 1985 in Aleksandrovac, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a professional male tennis player from Serbia.

On January 29, 2007, Bozoljac achieved his career-high singles ranking: World No. 101.

2006 was arguably Bozoljac's best year. In January, he had his best result at the ATP level in Zagreb, beating #170 Dudi Sela to qualify and then beating #77 Daniele Bracciali and #34 Feliciano López before losing to #81 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

In May, Bozoljac narrowly missed qualifying into the 2008 French Open, losing to #75 Eduardo Schwank in the qualifying round.

In June, Bozoljac entered the main draw of 2008 Wimbledon as a lucky loser, after beating #299 Nick Monroe and #167 Robert Smeets but losing to #201 Stefano Galvani in the qualifying round in 5 sets.

Bozoljac qualified for Wimbledon by winning three matches the previous week. He progressed to the second round, where he was defeated in four tight sets by defending champion Roger Federer. Federer and many commentators alike praised Bozoljac's improvement and sportsmanship.

Sam Austin Querrey (born October 7, 1987) is a professional American tennis player from Thousand Oaks, California currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada. His current ATP rank is 71, with a career high rank of #17, achieved on January 31, 2011. His height allows him to play with a strong serve and forehand. Querrey holds the record for most consecutive service aces since the ATP began keeping records of those statistics, with 10 in a 2007 match against James Blake. His regular doubles partner is fellow American John Isner.

Many tennis experts, including Davis Cup Captain Patrick McEnroe, have touted Querrey as America's next great talent.^{[citation needed]}

Querrey turned down a scholarship offer from USC to turn pro. His father Mike Querrey recommended that his son try making it in tennis, as he often regretted his own decision to go to the University of Arizona rather than play baseball for the Detroit Tigers which had drafted him. Sam Querrey said that going pro was "one of the toughest decisions of my life."