The Australasia men's national tennis team represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

competition, and was governed by the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association. It competed from 1905 through 1922. Following 1922, the nations competed as: * Australia men's national tennis team (began

1923 Events January–February * January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory). * January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...

; historical records assumed by Australia) *

New Zealand Davis Cup team The New Zealand men's national tennis team represents New Zealand in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by Tennis New Zealand. New Zealand currently compete in Group II of the Asia/Oceania Zone. They have played in the World Group ...

(began

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

)

History

In October 1904 the New Zealand Tennis Association contacted Australian officials with a proposal to enter a combined team at the 1905 Davis Cup. This proposal was accepted in January 1905 when New Zealand reluctantly agreed to form a joint Australasian Lawn Tennis Association. The 1911 Davis Cup was played at

Lancaster Park Lancaster Park, also known as Jade Stadium and AMI Stadium for sponsorship reasons, was a sports stadium in Waltham, a suburb of Christchurch in New Zealand. The stadium was closed permanently due to damage sustained in the February 2011 eart ...

, where Australasia as the defending champion was challenged by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Rain delayed the beginning of the games scheduled for 29 December 1911, and the 1911 Davis Cup event was held between 1 and 3 January 1912. Australian

Norman Brookes Sir Norman Everard Brookes (14 November 187728 September 1968) was an Australian tennis player. During his career he won three Grand Slam singles titles; Wimbledon in 1907 and 1914 (the first non-British individual to do so) and the Australa ...

beat

Beals Wright Beals Coleman Wright (December 19, 1879 – August 23, 1961) was an American tennis player who was active at the end of the 1890s and early 1900s. He won the singles title at the 1905 U.S. National Championships. Wright was a two-time Olympic g ...

in the opening match.

Rodney Heath Rodney Wilfred Heath (15 June 1884 – 26 October 1936) was an Australian tennis player. Personal Heath was the second son of F. W. Heath who was the official timekeeper at the Victorian Racing Club and Victorian Amateur Turf Club. Rodney's ...

increased the lead for Australasia by beating

William Larned William Augustus Larned (December 30, 1872 – December 16, 1926) was an American tennis player who was active at the beginning of the 20th century. He won seven singles titles at the U.S. National Championships. Biography Larned was born ...

. Australasia retained the Davis Cup through a win in the doubles, with Brookes and

Alfred Dunlop Alfred Wallace Dunlop (12 January 1875 – 6 May 1933) was an Australian tennis player, born in Christchurch, New Zealand. He won the doubles title at the Australasian Championships, the future Australian Open, alongside Fred Alexander in 1908. ...

being successful over Wright and

Maurice McLoughlin Maurice Evans McLoughlin (January 7, 1890 – December 10, 1957) was an American tennis player. Known for his powerful serve, overhead, and volley, McLoughlin was the first male tennis champion from the western United States. Biography He was ...

. The fourth match was defaulted by Wright, and Larned stepped aside to give the younger McLoughlin the opportunity to play Brookes. After leading 2 sets to 1, Brookes came back and won the match, and gave Australasia a clean 5–0 victory.

References

External links

{{DavisCupteamlink, code=ANZ δ Australasia