Edition 67th | ||
The 1978 Davis Cup was the 67th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. 48 teams would enter the competition, 29 in the Europe Zone, 11 in the Eastern Zone, and 8 in the Americas Zone.
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The United States defeated Chile in the Americas Zone final, Australia defeated New Zealand in the Eastern Zone final, and Great Britain and Sweden won the Europe Zones. In the Inter-Zonal Zone, Great Britain defeated Australia and the USA defeated Sweden. The USA defeated Great Britain in the final, which was held at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, United States, on 8–10 December.
The competition was significantly affected by political issues. Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and the Caribbean/West Indies withdrew in protest over South Africa's participation, and the Soviet Union was barred for the second consecutive year, for its refusal to contest matches against Chile and its promised refusal to compete against either South Africa or Rhodesia.
The South Africa / United States tie, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, attracted crowds of up to 5000 protesters each day. In an effort to appease its critics, South Africa named Peter Lamb as one of the six members of its team, as its first-ever "coloured" player. However, Lamb did not play, and his inclusion in the squad was derided as tokenism.
After a decade of dispute, South Africa would be excluded from the 1979 competition, and would not be allowed to compete again until 1992.