The Cup
Nick Wheatley
In this series we've been looking at the process of creating marginal gains to win matches. (Click Here.) In this article I want to give an example of how this work was the difference for my team in the biggest interclub match of the year.
This is a true story from 2018 when I was captaining my home club for an all-day team event against another local club, with a cup at stake for the winners. I believe marginal gains made the difference between winning and losing.
This was the 2nd annual staging of this cup event, and we had been victorious on home soil the year before. This time, we were the away side, and facing a club who were highly motivated to square the series at 1-1.
Davis Cup Format
As with the first match, myself and the opposing captain agreed there would be 9 age groups from Under 10's through to Men's and Ladies, and each tie would follow the old-style Davis Cup format with two singles players and a doubles team in each age group.
Every match was one set. The singles sequence would be Home 1 versus Away 2, then Away 1 versus Home 2, then doubles, and then reverse singles if needed. We also agreed that teammates could remain on court to support players, and we captains could step in to coach at change-overs, which led to a unique and very exciting format.
