Zimbabwe competed in its first Davis Cup in 1963, as Rhodesia in the European Zone. They would defeat the Netherlands before going on to lose to Sweden in the second round. In the next two years they would get through to the second round of European qualifying. After skipping the 1966 and 1967 edition, they returned to the 1968 edition with protests in the original scheduled venue at Båstad as they had to move it to a neutral location in Southern France. Despite the issue, they would not go on to win a match in two years before taking a break, which would be until 1976 where they were supposed to take on Ireland but after withdrawing from that edition, they lost to Switzerland 3-2.