Telefónica, the Spanish telecommunications giant, will sponsor tennis' Davis Cup for the next four years in a deal that will see it receive court-side advertising space as well as provide telecommunications support to the competition. The Davis Cup is the largest annual international team competition in sport. 128 nations entered the 2009 edition.

Telefónica joins an extensive list of Davis Cup sponsors that includes title sponsor BNP Paribas as well as Rolex and Hugo Boss. The company confirmed that it will dedicate a significant amount of its advertising space to its commercial brands, Movistar and O2. The Davis Cup is very popular in Telefónica's native Spain, with players such as Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco shining in recent months.

"This is wonderful news for both Davis Cup and the ITF," said International Tennis Federation (ITF) president Francesco Ricci Bitti. "Telefónica is a very successful company, with over 260 million customers, and we believe that they will be an outstanding partner for Davis Cup. In a world where technology is one of the true growth areas, we are delighted that Telefónica and its brands have joined Davis Cup as the Official Telecommunications Sponsor."

Telefónica global marketing director, Belén Amatriain, said: "Davis Cup is a perfect fit for Telefónica, both for its global reach and the passion it generates in our key markets. The 257,000 professionals who work for Telefónica share a common team spirit, something which is the essence of Davis Cup: a unique competition that turns an individual sport into a nation's competition."