The Davis Cup, the premier teams' event of the International Tennis Federation and the symbol of friendly rivalry in a warring world, is more than a simple sports competition. The game's top professionals, accustomed to calling the shots, playing for themselves and for profit, in the Davis Cup serve their countries and play for on an emotion. Umpires refer not to their names but to their nations, and the tension and responsibility have crippled many a cool customer in the locker-room. This is the record of the greatest tennis contest in the world.

The idea which Dwight Davis had in mind when he donated the huge silver bowl in 1900 remains intact. There have been changes; gone are the spartan days of player pocketmoney when countries sometimes have to field half-a-side while their stars were collecting cash in the tournaments. With the Nippon Electric Company pouring in a million dollars in sponsorship, the future of the cup is in good hands. But the sentiments are the same. Alan Trengrove, editor and co-publisher of the magazine Tennis Australia, traces the spirit of the competition from its Anglo-American origins to huge spawning showcase both the seventy-two contestant Nations over the years; from the Anglo-Saxon domination to the Musketeers' courts of clay, to Hopman's rock-hard Australians and the svelte Swedes of the 1980s, the epitome of good sportsmanship.

Electrifying matches have been played out in a spirit of utmost fairness punctuated by blistering rows. Nastase crowning David Lloyd with his racquet, the power and pandemonium of McEnroe's displays, and the nervous tension which could rattle even a player of Fred Perry's iron will - all are captured so graphically in this book that the reader cannot help taking sides. The history of the competition, far from being a catalogue of forgotten figures and dead matches, flickers to life like a film. Here on no ordinary tennis recollections, but memories which the likes of Borotra, Gonzales and Ashe cherish above anything else in the game: the Davis Cup - a treasurehouse of tennis.