1978 Davis Cup Americas Zone

The Americas Zone was one of the three regional zones of the 1978 Davis Cup.

10 teams entered the Americas Zone in total, with 3 teams entering the North & Central America Zone and 8 teams entering the South America Zone. The winner of each sub-zone advanced to the Americas Inter-Zonal Final, with the winner going on to compete in the Inter-Zonal Zone against the winners of the Eastern Zone and Europe Zone.[1]

The United States defeated South Africa in the North & Central America Zone final, and Chile defeated Argentina in the South America Zone final.[2][3] In the Americas Inter-Zonal Final the United States defeated Chile and progressed to the Inter-Zonal Zone.[4]

The North & Central America Zone was marked by a number of incidents related to the continued presence of South Africa team. Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and the Caribbean/West Indies teams all withdrew from the competition, and large scale protests accompanied the final between the United States and South Africa at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.[5][6] 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.[7] However, Lamb did not play, and his inclusion in the squad was derided as tokenism. Crowds of up to 5000 turned out in protest.[8]