Davis Cup Finals 2018

Tennis
Production Centre
UKEurope

In late November 2018, Marin Cilic helped Croatia win the Davis Cup for a second time at the tournament’s climax in Lille, France. Cilic was the difference throughout, not dropping a set and not even facing a single break point in his final match. This was no mean feat in the face of stiff French opposition and 25,000 baying French fans packing the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

The Davis Cup began in 1900 as a competition between the USA and Great Britain. It’s now the world’s largest annual international team competition in sport, with 132 nations entered in 2018. Legends such as Fred Perry, John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg have graced the competition in the past, with recent tournaments seeing the Big Four (Djokovic, Murray, Nadal, Federer) representing their countries with both passion and commitment. The Murray family even steered Team GB to an unlikely victory in 2015 – GB’s first win since 1936.

Input Media began its journey with the Davis Cup in 2006, when Croatia were the reigning champions. It seems fitting that 2018, the final year for the tournament in its historic World Group format, should see Croatia lift the cup again.

Over the 12 years of our involvement with the Davis Cup, we’ve provided a wide range of services to the International Tennis Federation (ITF). This year’s support included a 52-minute highlights show produced immediately after each day’s play – cut overnight and voiced the following morning – as well as a wrap-around show and web highlights for the ITF’s website. Alongside our usual array of producers and editors, we had the voiceover talent of Dan Lobb and commentators Barry Millns and Nick Lester.

2019 marks the beginning of a new era for the Davis Cup, when 24 nations will go head to head across 12 qualifying ties on 1–2 February, with the winning nations securing a place in the inaugural Davis Cup Finals in Madrid on 18–24 November 2019. This will provide a week-long festival of tennis, with the finalists competing alongside the already-qualified France, Croatia, USA and Spain, plus wild cards Argentina and Great Britain. The new format will no doubt help the big-name players fit the Davis Cup into their busy tennis calendars, guaranteeing some great matches for fans around the world to enjoy.