Which countries are the most successful in tennis?

When we talk about successful tennis players, names like Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, and Steffi Graf probably immediately come to mind. All these (former) professionals have won numerous Grand Slam titles and each has a truly impressive list of achievements. Djokovic is from Serbia, Federer is from Switzerland, and the Williams sisters hail from the United States. But does the success of the aforementioned players also automatically mean that their respective countries are also successful in tennis? Sjeng Sports investigated and outlines below which countries are the most successful in tennis!

Nations Cups

The tennis calendar features not only the standard ( Grand Slam ) tournaments, but also several international matches each year. For men, for example, there's the Davis Cup, while the women compete for the title in the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly the Fed Cup). Furthermore, until 2019, the Hopman Cup, a tournament in which both men and women participated, was also organized. This Hopman Cup is no longer on the calendar, but a new tournament has been created, the United Cup, in which both men and women compete for their respective countries. The United Cup will be held starting in 2023 and is scheduled for December 29th to January 8th (2024).

Below we list the winners of the above-mentioned tournaments for you, so you have an idea of ​​the countries that have proven to be strong in tennis.

David Cup

• United States (32 titles, 29 finals lost)
• Australia (28 titles, 20 finals lost)
• France (10 titles, 9 finals lost)
• United Kingdom (10 titles, 8 finals lost)
• Sweden (6 titles, 5 finals lost)
• Spain (6 titles, 4 finals lost)
• Germany (3 titles, 3 finals lost)
• Russia (2 titles, 3 finals lost)
• Croatia (2 titles, 2 finals lost)
• Czech Republic (2 titles, 1 final lost)

Hopman Cup

• United States (6 titles)
• Spain (4 titles)
• Switzerland (4 titles)
• Slovakia (3 titles)
• Australia (2 titles)
• Germany (2 titles)
• France (2 titles)
• Czech Republic (2 titles)

Billie Jean King Cup

• United States (18 titles, lost finals)
• Australia (7 titles, 12 finals lost)
• Czech Republic (6 titles, 0 finals lost)
• Spain (5 titles, 6 finals lost)
• Russia (5 titles, 5 finals lost)
• Czechoslovakia (5 titles, 1 final lost)
• Italy (4 titles, 1 final lost)
• France (3 titles, 3 finals lost)
• Germany (2 titles, 5 finals lost)
• Switzerland (1 title, 2 finals lost)

United States dominates

As you can see, the United States is leading the way. The Davis Cup (32 times), the Billie Jean King Cup (18 times), and the Hopman Cup are all won most often by the Americans. It should be noted, however, that most of the titles held by the United States were won in the distant past. For example, while we look at the Davis Cup, which has been played since 1900, the Americans' last victory was in 2007. Since 1995, they have won "only" one Davis Cup title. If we look at Spain, for example, we see that they have won six titles since 2000. Australia also scores well on all fronts, and what's also striking is the fact that a relatively smaller tennis nation like the Czech Republic also scores well in the above rankings.

Looking at the team competition trophies, we can safely say that the United States has the most impressive record. In that respect, the United States, along with Australia, is among the most successful nations in tennis of all time. However, in recent decades, a trend has emerged where prizes are often shared among European nations, which are increasingly producing players who are stronger than the American and Australian players. Given the number of titles won, the Americans will likely remain in first place for a while, but it certainly cannot be ruled out that this will eventually change and the European nations will take over.