The 1976 Davis Cup was the 65th edition of the Davis Cup, the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. 58 teams would enter the competition, 32 in the Europe Zone, 14 in the Americas Zone, and 12 in the Eastern Zone. This year's tournament saw all teams in the Americas Zone competing in one single bracket, with the previous North & Central America and South America sub-zones, and subsequently the Americas Inter-Zonal final, being eliminated. This brought the Americas Zone in line with the outline of the other zones, with the previous year's Americas sub-zone champions progressing to the new Americas main draw semifinals.

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

defeated

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

in the Americas Zone final, Australia defeated

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 ...

in the Eastern Zone final, and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

were the winners of the two Europe Zones, defeating

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

, respectively. In the Inter-Zonal Zone, Italy defeated Australia in their semifinal; the second semifinal was scratched and Chile advanced to the Final as the Soviet Union refused to travel to Chile due to their opposition to the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. In the final, held in the Estadio Nacional in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, on 17–19 December, Italy defeated Chile to win their first title and become the seventh nation to win the Davis Cup.

Americas Zone

Preliminary Rounds

Main Draw

Final

Chile vs. South Africa

Eastern Zone

Preliminary Rounds

Main Draw

Final

Australia vs. New Zealand

Europe Zone

Zone A

Pre-Qualifying Round

Preliminary Rounds

Main Draw

Final

Soviet Union vs. Hungary

Zone B

Pre-Qualifying Rounds

Preliminary Rounds

Main Draw

Final

Great Britain vs. Italy

Inter-Zonal Zone

Draw

Semifinals

Italy vs. Australia Chile vs. Soviet Union The tie was scheduled to be completed by September 27, but the Soviet Union refused to travel to Chile due to their opposition to the military dictatorship of

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

: therefore, the tie was scratched and Chile advanced to the Final. The Soviet team were subsequently banned from entering the Davis Cup for two years.

Final

Chile vs. Italy

References

External links

Davis Cup Official Website
{{1976 Commercial Union Assurance Grand Prix Davis Cups by year Davis Cup Davis Cup Davis Cup Davis Cup Davis Cup Davis Cup