The Davis Cup Reforms have passed through at an AGM meeting in Orlando, Florida. The reforms got a 71 % majority meaning that the 118 year competition will receive a complete overhaul next year. The ITF will be given a 3 billion dollar investment for the next 25 years by Kosmos, who is lead by Barcelona football star, Gerard Pique.
The vote passed at around 10am Orlando time with 71% of Federations agreeing to the Davis Cup reforms that have been set out, which will see an 18 team tournament at the end of next year. Despite concerns from Australia, Germany, Great Britain, India and Poland, the majority of Federations agreed to it, with the main reason being for economic benefit. The vote means that from next year the Davis Cup will have a major overhaul, which includes the following:
- An 18 team world group at the end of next year, spread over a week. It will includes, 6 Round Robin Groups, with the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final.
- There will be a 24 team qualifying round in February, where the 12 winners will qualify for November’s World Group.
- The other six teams will consist of the four semi-finalists from the previous year and two wildcards.
- The two worst teams from the World Group will be automatically relegated to the Zone Groups, while teams from 5th to 16th will compete in the following year’s qualifying event.
- The qualifying event will be four singles matches and one doubles over two days.
- The end of year event will be two singles and one doubles played in one day.
- All ties will be best of three tiebreak sets.
After the vote, Gerard Pique was seen celebrating his win with his team as his aim to invest in Tennis succeeded:
Pique and Kosmos team victory photo. #DavisCupVote pic.twitter.com/UOItFx5VcZ
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) August 16, 2018
Calendar Issues?
After their big victory the ITF now face a major problem in convincing top players to participate as the ATP World Cup of Tennis event will start just one month after the Davis Cup finals event finishes. Players like Lucas Pouille and Alexander Zverev have already announced that they will boycott the event in 2019 , with many more set to join them.
What Happens Next?
The ITF will now have to debate where to hold the first edition of the tournament, with the venue set to be either Madrid or Lille. It has also been announced that they will announce the two wildcards just before the draw for the qualifying event, with those 12 ties set to take place in February. The ITF also have to consider what to fill April and September with now as a Hopman Cup style event as well as a winners take all weekend have been discussed for the future.
Whether you like the changes or not, today is a very sad day for Tennis as 118 years of history has been wiped out with 3 billion dollars worth of investment.
