Cities around the world will have the chance to bid to stage the Davis, Fed Cup finals under new proposals set out by the president of the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
David Haggerty has submitted the idea in an attempt to increase the popularity and revenue of the team competitions. Currently the final of the tournaments are hosted by one of the finalist. This year will see Croatia host Argentina in the Davis Cup final at a yet to be confirmed venue in November. Haggerty said with his new plan, the tennis community will have more notice about where the final will be located.
“It is really hard to plan and get viewership and fans excited,” Haggerty told Reuters about the current format.
“If you have a fixed site, people can begin to plan and look ahead.
“Last year we had a fantastic final in Ghent. But the reality is, Britain could have sold out the (13,000-capacity) stadium. Belgium could have sold it out, too.”
A vote will take place on the proposal in August next year with the hope that the new hosting-system will be in place by 2018. Haggerty told Reuters that cities will get to host the venue for a two-to-three-year period.
The location of the final is one of a series of things that the ITF seeks to change in order to generate more enthusiasm for the events. Other changes include expanding the Fed Cup group from eight to 16 and introducing a final-four format where the last four teams all playing within the same week.
“We are going to spend the next nine months working with players, with our nation’s, talking about other possibilities, such as formats.” Haggerty said.
“Should it be in Davis Cup two out of three sets, or three out of five? It could be looking at a two-day format.”
Haggerty’s plans come as he aims to increase the interest in tennis around the world. Currently the team events annually attract 700,000 spectators and 3.6 billion TV viewers. Haggerty is confident that the introduction of a ‘neutral’ venue will appeal to a wider audience.
“With a neutral final venue we can work with our broadcast partners and make it a much bigger show than just two nations that know they’re playing each other.”
“We can make this into a much more massive win for tennis.”
The purpose changes come as some players openly said that they are finding it hard to fulfill their team duties due scheduling commitments. During this year’s Wimbledon Championships, Novak Djokovic called for a football-style format where the entire competition would be hosted over a one-two week period. Djokovic’s idea is one that currently isn’t being considered by the ITF.
