The Switzerland men's national tennis team represents Switzerland in the Davis Cup tennis competition and is governed by Swiss Tennis.
In 2007, Switzerland competed in the World Group for the 13th consecutive year – the third longest ongoing streak – before being relegated after losing 3–2 against the Czech Republic.
Switzerland, with 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer and three-time Grand Slam champion and then-reigning Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka on the team, won its first Davis Cup title in 2014.
Current team (2024)
Stan Wawrinka (singles) Dominic Stricker (singles) Leandro Riedi (singles) Alexander Ritschard (singles) Marc-Andrea Hüsler (singles) Luca Margaroli (doubles)
History Switzerland competed in its first Davis Cup in the 1923. They won the Davis Cup title for the first time in 2014, defeating France in the final by three rubbers to one, Roger Federer's victory over Richard Gasquet in the first reverse singles rubber clinching the title for the Swiss.
Switzerland has reached one other final, losing to the USA in 1992, as well as being semifinalists in 2003, and quarterfinalists in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2004.
Captains Roland Stadler (1991–1992) Tim Sturdza (1992–1993) Stephane Oberer (1994–1998) Claudio Mezzadri (1999) Jakob Hlasek (2000–2001) Ivo Heuberger (2002) Marc Rosset (2002–2005, as playing captain 2002–2003) Severin Lüthi (2005–present)
1992 campaign Tennis became extremely popular in Switzerland in 1992. First, Marc Rosset and Jakob Hlasek won the 1992 French Open title in doubles. Marc Rosset went on to win the Olympics singles title in Barcelona. The Davis Cup campaign completed this exceptional year for Swiss tennis. The team was led by Marc Rosset and Jakob Hlasek and completed by Claudio Mezzadri and Thierry Grin. It lost the final 3-1 to a tough United States team consisting of Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, and John McEnroe.
After a comfortable 4-1 win against the Netherlands in The Hague, Switzerland traveled to the Arena of Nîmes to play France on clay in the quarterfinals. The Roman amphitheater was semi-covered for this event. Switzerland won 3-2 and recorded its first victory against a French team when Jakob Hlasek scored the decisive point against French clay-court specialist Thierry Champion.
The semifinal against Brazil (won 5-0) in the Geneva Palexpo established a new world record for the largest attendance at an indoor tennis event at that time (15,000 people). The tie was played on an extremely fast Taraflex court, which favoured the fast serving Marc Rosset against Brazilian players traditionally used to play on much slower clay courts. Brazil had shocked Germany and Italy in the previous rounds, both played in Brazil. The Swiss team was mostly concerned about Jaime Oncins, who was featuring a 9-0 record in Davis Cup before the semifinal. Oncins had also reached the quarterfinals of the Olympics a few months earlier. Oncins did not win a single set in Geneva. The tie was decided after the doubles rubber with a straight-set win by Hlasek and Rosset against the experienced pair of Fernando Roese and Cássio Motta.
The final was played in Fort Worth, Texas. Switzerland fired their captain Roland Stadler after the semifinals for reasons which remain unclear. He was replaced by former player and multiple Swiss champion Tim Sturdza. Andre Agassi put the United States 1-0 ahead with a very clear win over Jakob Hlasek in which Hlasek only won a total of five games in three sets. Marc Rosset levelled the game with a hard-fought win over Jim Courier, whom he had beaten in the Olympics the same year. The doubles proved to be the turning point of the tie. After the Swiss won the two first sets 7-6, John McEnroe managed to fire up Pete Sampras, who had been hardly there during the two first sets. The United States won the third set 7-5, and then took the two remaining sets easily. On Sunday, Courier secured the title for the United States with a four-set win against Hlasek.
The fifth rubber between Andre Agassi and Marc Rosset was not played. Annoyed by Agassi's behaviour during the tie (especially some alleged verbal aggression against Hlasek), Rosset later stated that he was ready to "explode Agassi" in the fifth rubber and that this would have been the kind of game that would have excited him a lot. One year later, Rosset faced Agassi in Indian Wells and beat him.
2003 campaign The Swiss team in 2003 had the particularity to have a playing captain in the person of 1992 Olympic champion and Davis Cup finalist Marc Rosset, who partnered Federer in the doubles against France (QF) and Australia (SF). The 2003 team further included Michel Kratochvil and George Bastl. The team had to play its three matches away from home.
After a very tight first round in Arnhem, Netherlands (Michel Kratochvil won the decisive rubber against Martin Verkerk). Switzerland recorded a convincing win against France in Toulouse during which Rosset and Federer showed their strength as a doubles team, and Federer outplayed Fabrice Santoro in the fourth rubber.
For the semifinal, Switzerland had to travel to the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne to face Australia with Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Philippoussis, and doubles specialists Todd Woodbridge and Arthurs. After the expected wins of Hewitt against Kratochvil and Federer against Phlippoussis, the doubles appeared to be the turning point, very much like in the 1992 final. Federer and Rosset lost in five sets, and Federer then had to play Hewitt for survival. After Federer won the first two sets 7-5 and 6-2, Hewitt fought back and won the next three sets. This is still considered one of Federer's most painful defeats, and he was still in tears many hours after the game.
For the final, Switzerland would have faced Spain in the Bern Arena, which was already booked to receive the event.
2014 campaign and victory
After its failure of 2003, Switzerland did not reach a semifinal until 2014. The team's prospects rose considerably when Roger Federer declared himself available for the first round of the World Group against Serbia, which was without its best players: Novak Djokovic (exhausted after the Australian Open), Janko Tipsarević (injured), and Victor Troicki (suspended). Also, the Swiss team for the first time included two Grand Slam champions, as Stan Wawrinka had won the Australian Open.
The draw for the World Group looked favourable for the Swiss, with a quarterfinal against Kazakhstan or Belgium and possibly a semifinal against Italy (led by Fabio Fognini) or Great Britain (led by Andy Murray).
Switzerland won the first round against a Serbian "B-Team" 3-2 in Novi Sad. The game was decided 3-0 after Chiudinelli and Lammer made the winning point in the doubles.
For the quarterfinal, Switzerland faced Kazakhstan in Geneva. A poor performance by Wawrinka (lost his first singles and the doubles) almost caused the elimination of the Swiss team, so Federer played a deciding fifth rubber (after Wawrinka had regained his form to win the fourth rubber) against Golubev, which he won. With this victory, Federer succeeded Jakob Hlasek as the Swiss player with most singles wins (35).
For the semifinal against Italy, a record attendance for a Swiss tennis game was set with 18,400 spectators in the Geneva Palexpo. Tickets sold out in less than three hours. Captains Severin Lüthi and Corrado Barazzutti called the following players:
Switzerland: Roger Federer (ATP 3), Stan Wawrinka (ATP 4), Marco Chiudinelli (ATP 161), Michael Lammer (ATP 497).
Italy: Fabio Fognini (ATP 17), Andreas Seppi (ATP 48), Simone Bolelli (ATP 76), Paolo Lorenzi (ATP 78).
For the Swiss team, Yann Marti (ATP 209) was called as a fifth player, acting as a sparring partner. He was allowed to wear the team uniform for the first time and to stay with the team the whole week.
Both Federer and Wawrinka won their singles matches in straight sets and were first expected to play together in the doubles on Saturday. However, due to his fatigue after the US Open, Federer asked not to play in order to be fresh in case he needed to play on Sunday. Wawrinka played the doubles with Chiudinelli, and they lost in five sets to Fognini and Bolelli. This was the third defeat of the Wawrinka and Chiudinelli in three Davis Cup matches. They had already lost together against Italy in 2009.
For the decisive rubber on Sunday, Roger Federer faced Fognini and won in straight sets, qualifying Switzerland for its second final.
For the final against France, the Swiss team traveled to Villeneuve-d'Ascq, near Lille. The local football stadium, the Stade Pierre-Mauroy was transformed into a tennis stadium for the occasion, with a capacity of 30,000. The French decided to play on a clay court. This choice was mostly due to the fact that both Federer and Wawrinka were participating in the ATP World Tour Finals on a hard court a week before the Davis Cup final. However, French captain Arnaud Clément stated that the surface would not necessarily be an advantage for France. France started practicing on the court 10 days before the final, while Federer and Wawrinka were playing in London on a hard court.
Initially, the French team also evoked the possibility of organizing the final in one of their Overseas Territories to impose jet lag on Federer and Wawrinka, both playing the ATP World Tour Finals in London one week before the Davis Cup final. Gilles Simon mentioned the city of Nouméa in New Caledonia as a potential venue.
The previous memorable campaigns of 1992 and 2003 also saw the Swiss team play away ties against France. On both occasions, Switzerland won 3–2 in the quarter-finals (1992: QF won 3-2 in Nîmes; 2003: QF won 3-2 in Toulouse). These remain the only two Swiss victories in 12 Davis Cup meetings with France.
The preparation of the Swiss team for the final was overshadowed by the back injury of Federer. He was playing at the ATP Finals in London the week before and won the semifinal in a very tight match against Wawrinka, during which he injured his back. He subsequently withdrew from the final against Novak Djokovic, and he was unable to practice until the late evening of Wednesday before the final. This left Federer with very limited practice time for the transition from hard court (on which he played in Paris and London) to the clay court in Villeneuve-d'Ascq. The French team had no injury to report and prepared during 10 days on clay before the final.
The captains nominated the following players:
France: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (ATP 12), Gaël Monfils (ATP 19), Julien Benneteau (ATP 25), Richard Gasquet (ATP 26).
Switzerland: Roger Federer (ATP 2), Stan Wawrinka (ATP 4), Marco Chiudinelli (ATP 212), Michael Lammer (ATP 508).
Federer's injury triggered discussions about the possible late nomination of a substitute. Yann Marti (ATP 227) was considered as a replacement, clay being his favourite type of surface. However, Federer's health improved, and no further nomination was made.
Despite a good end of season (runner-up in the ATP 1000 Shanghai), Gilles Simon, who had a better ranking than Benneteau and Gasquet (ATP 21), was left out of the French team. This was probably due to his bad previous results in Davis Cup and his inability to win decisive games in this competition.
With Federer's fourth-round victory over Gasquet in the reverse singles rubber, Switzerland secured its first Davis Cup trophy.
From 2015 until 2018 relegation After winning the Davis Cup for the first time, titleholder Switzerland travelled to Belgium for the first round. Both Federer and Wawrinka announced that they would not play. Therefore, captain Severin Lüthi called the following players:
Yann Marti (ATP no. 294), Adrien Bossel (ATP no. 324), Henri Laaksonen (ATP no. 344) and Michael Lammer (ATP no. 541). Marco Chiudinelli (ATP no. 226) was still recovering from an injury and was not called.