The general secretary of Ukrainian Tennis has urged the ITF to change the structure of the Fed Cup in order to attract the top players to the competition.
Evgeniy Zukin has asked the Australian tennis association to support him in the calls for change during a player dinner on Thursday night, according to the Canberra Times. Zukin’s comments come ahead of the Ukraine’s clash with Australia this weekend. The country will be without all four of their top 100 players. Leaving 15-year-old Marta Kostyuk to head the Ukrainian team. In contrast, Australia will feature their top two players. Daria Gavrilova and Ash Barty.
“The calendar and the way the competition is now it’s really hard for the professional player, it breaks all the schedules and we need change,” Zukin said.
The current structure of the competition sees ties played during different times of the season. Critics of the competition argue that the eight-team world group stage should be expanded and the calendar adjusted to make it fit better with the schedule of the top players.
Zukin hopes that with the support of Tennis Australia, there will be more pressure to force the change. He has openly admitted that the Ukraine has little influence on the subject matter because they are ‘a small tennis nation.’
“We’ve talked about it at the ITF AGMs and last year in the Ukraine we were talking about the World Group expanding to 16 teams, but it didn’t happen.” He said.
“We [Ukraine and Australia] are facing each other again after just one year and of course we need to play different teams from time to time.
“We are a small tennis nation, Australia is one of the biggest tennis nations in the world, so I hope with your support we may move the competition forward, we need to take steps to make sure the best players play in every tie.”
It is not the first time an official has called for the Fed Cup to be changed. Former British captain Judy Murray, mother of former world No.1 Andy Murray, has also previously expressed frustration. Murray quit her role in 2016 as she called for changes to be made. For years the British team has been stuck in the regional zone. Meaning they have had to play ties in a neutral country. This week they are playing in Estonia.
“Things have got to change. Everyone can see the buzz created around the home ties and team tennis at all stages of the Davis Cup. Fed Cup should be afforded a similar format.” Said Murray.
The ITF is currently in the process of revamping both the Fed and Davis Cup competitions. It is unclear as to when any changes will come into effect.
