DAVIS CUP FACT SHEET First Round, 2-4 February 2018

OVERVIEW by BNP Paribas is the Cup of and the largest annual international team competition in . The competition is 118 years old having been founded in 1900. A total of 133 nations have entered the competition in 2018. More than 500 players will take part in the 2018 event, which will see about 80 ties held in around 60 countries.

2018 ZONE GROUP TRIALS A two-day format and best-of-three-set matches will be trialled in Davis Cup by BNP Paribas this year. The two-day format in Zone Groups I and II will see two singles matches played on day one, and the doubles match followed by the two reverse singles matches on day two. This will ensure that all doubles matches remain live. Zone Group I first- round ties will be played on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 February, with Zone Group II first-round ties played on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 February. The two-day, best-of-three-sets trial does not apply to the World Group, which will continue to play ties over three days and best-of-five sets in 2018.

TIES This weekend sees eight World Group first round ties take place in the 2018 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas. In addition, there are 24 other regional ties this weekend (three in Europe/Africa Zone Group I, three in Americas Zone Group I, two in Asia/Oceania Zone Group I, eight in Europe/Africa Zone Group II, four in Americas Zone Group II and four in Asia/Oceania Zone Group II).

World Group first round v , Albertville (hard – indoors) v , Morioka (hard – indoors) v Great Britain, Marbella (clay – outdoors) v , Brisbane (hard – outdoors) v , Astana (hard – indoors) v , Osijek (clay – indoors) v USA, Nis (clay – indoors) v , Liege (hard – indoors)

The eight first round winners will contest the World Group quarterfinals on 6-8 April. The deadline for confirmation of the World Group quarterfinal venues is 19 February.

The eight first round losers will compete in the World Group play-offs on 14-16 September, alongside eight qualifiers from the three Zone Group I competitions. The 2018 World Group play-offs draw will be held following the 6-8 April ties at the ITF offices in on Tuesday 10 April at 10:00 local time.

NEW FOR 2018 Following a recent change to the Davis Cup regulations, the two finalists in Davis Cup are now guaranteed the choice of hosting their first round tie in the following year.

Additionally, the ITF Board of Directors has approved the following changes to be trialled during the 2018 competition: • The introduction of five-man teams in the 2018 World Group and Zone Groups I and II • Amendments to the dead rubber policy across the World Group and Zone Groups I and II now mean that no fifth rubber will be played if the fourth rubber is decisive, the same as the current rule for the Davis Cup Final. • In the World Group, only the fourth rubber will be played if the score is 3-0. The fourth rubber will be best-of- three tiebreak sets.

CALENDAR DATES Davis Cup has fixed dates in the men’s tennis calendar through 2018, thanks to an understanding between the ITF and ATP. The first two rounds in 2018 are being played in February-April due to the short tennis summer when there is an extra week in the spring calendar. The ITF is discussing future dates with the ATP.

SPONSORS The title sponsor is BNP Paribas, the Bank of Davis Cup. International sponsors are Rolex (Official Timekeeper) and Adecco (Official HR Sponsor), while HEAD is an international partner. beIN is the Official Global Media Rights Partner.

DAVIS CUP COMMITMENT AWARD The ITF launched the Davis Cup Commitment Award at the 100th Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Final in Prague in 2012. The award is presented by the ITF to Davis Cup players who have shown long-standing dedication to representing their country in this prestigious competition, with a minimum of 20-home-and-away ties or 50 ties at any level of the competition. The ITF, through its National Associations, will continue to make presentations to award winners at Davis Cup home ties throughout 2018. The full list of the 352 players to have been honoured can be viewed in a dedicated Commitment Award section on the Davis Cup website (www.daviscup.com).

HAWK-EYE OFFICIATING SYSTEM Electronic line-calling review has been used in all rounds of the World Group since 2012. The system is only used on hard and grass courts.

ITF COURT PACE RATING The ITF introduced new rules for hard courts in 2008 to prevent the use of extreme court surfaces in Davis Cup. The ITF is able to establish the Court Pace Rating (CPR) of a court by measuring the effect of ball-surface interaction, with the CPR required to be within specific limits for Davis Cup. The ITF tests the CPR at selected hard court ties, with the pace rating category published on the Davis Cup website. There will be testing at four of the five hard court World Group ties this weekend.

SHOW YOUR COLOURS In 2014 the ITF launched Show Your Colours, a new fan-focused campaign to promote Davis Cup and Fed Cup as the world cups of tennis. The campaign acts as a platform to increase awareness of the competitions, help better tell their stories and drive engagement with fans. To date, the campaign has been used by over 80 nations globally at more than 350 events. Building on the unique team nature of both competitions, Show Your Colours uses branding elements and activation ideas for promotion, in-stadium experience and social media activity.

DAVIS CUP WEBSITE There are two versions of the official Davis Cup website, in English (www.daviscup.com) and Spanish (www.copadavis.com). The websites will feature live scoring, a live blog, reports, photographs, audio interviews and exclusive video content. The website recorded almost 15 million page views in 2017. In addition, the competition’s social media properties in English, Spanish and Chinese grew to almost 1 million last year.

DAVIS CUP LIVE CENTRE AND LIVE STREAMING The ITF, in partnership with Sportradar, launched a new live centre and live streaming platform in September 2017, offering enhanced coverage of the competition. Fans now have the ability to purchase coverage ranging from individual ties to a whole round of ties, or an annual package covering all rounds of Davis Cup. In parallel, a desktop live scoring centre and redesigned dedicated mobile app for Davis Cup was also launched offering more in-depth statistics across all ties. These features were also launched for Fed Cup in 2017.

TELEVISION Davis Cup will be broadcast on TV in all 16 nations contesting the World Group first round ties. There will also be coverage of more than 20 zone group ties. It was a record-breaking year for Davis Cup by BNP Paribas television coverage in 2017, with the Final between France and Belgium shown in 167 territories. In 2015, the ITF signed a seven-year strategic media rights partnership with beIN SPORTS for Davis Cup and Fed Cup to increase the global exposure and quality of the coverage of both competitions.

ATTENDANCE More than 530,000 spectators attended 80 Davis Cup ties in 2017. This included more than 75,000 spectators at the Davis Cup Final between France and Belgium in Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille.

ITF DAVIS CUP NATIONS The new ITF Davis Cup Nations Ranking will be published on Monday 5 February and will include results from the weekend’s ties. The Ranking, which is used for seeding at all levels of the competition, is published on the Monday following every Davis Cup weekend, and based on a nation’s performances in the competition over a four-year period. All competing nations from World Group through to Zone Group IV are ranked. France is the current No. 1 nation.