A war of words over the proposed changes to the Davis Cup is intensifying with European officials and associations casting doubts over the legitimacy on the plan.
Later this week a vote will take place at the annual ITF AGM meeting over the proposal. The ITF has set out their vision of implementing a 18-team tournament that takes place over one week at the end of the year. Consisting of 12 qualifiers, the previous year’s four semifinalists and two wild card nations. Unlike the current format, the finals will be held at a neutral venue and best-of-five set matches will be scrapped. Investment company Kosmos, which is owned by Barcelona F.C. footballer Gerard Pique, has pledged to invest $3 billion over 25 years if approved.
At a glance the injection of finance appears like a win-win situation for the ITF. The Davis Cup is in need of financial support and they have somebody willing to assist them. The only problem is that concerns have been raised over the reliability of Kosmos’ financial pledge and the impact it may have.
“When you come to the point when a “reform” is not a reform any more, but rather sees financial goals as its principal objective – that is where the troubles will start.” Tennis Europe vice president Attila Richter told Telegraf.rs on Monday.
“When the matter of funding of proposed Davis Cup reforms is in question – once the initial awe with the huge quoted sums has subsided and the breakdown was analyzed in closer detail – a considerable shortcoming has been detected, which would actually see the majority of national federations receiving insufficient money from the competition in order to maintain their role as sole developers of the game of tennis in their communities worldwide.” He later added.
Tennis Europe has already voiced their opposition to the new Davis Cup last week. Its president, Vladimir Dmitriev, wrote in a letter to 50 European tennis federations that he ‘cannot see the real benefit for European nations or for tennis in general.’
The traditionalists
The ITF has worked relentlessly to try to reassure its critics that the deal is the best for the team competition, which started back in 1900. Insisting that it will benefit federations across the world. Although for some nations, it is the tradition of the event that means the most to them.
“There’s a real risk for the Davis Cup, that this competition will be reduced to an ordinary meeting in front of a public without real knowledge of the game.” The Belgian Tennis Federation said in a statement.
“This new Davis Cup will resemble more of an Olympic Games without medals, a Hopman Cup which lacks a special atmosphere or the late world tennis cup without much encouragement, because of the lack of popular interest behind it.”
Dirk Hordorff, who is the vice-president of the German Tennis Federation, was more blunt in his words. During an interview with BBC Sport, he has accused the ITF of trying to ‘kill’ the event. It is understood that the ITF has held meetings with the German federation in recent weeks, but it is unclear if they will vote for or against the revamp.
“It will kill the Davis Cup,” Hordorff told the BBC.
“You cannot make an event which is more or less an exhibition, after the Masters in November, and expect the players to come,” he added.
“We all know how many players are injured and unavailable to play in the Masters, so to have another event after that doesn’t make any sense if you want to have the players.”
Financial problems?
Poland is another country concerned about the changes. Victor Artuchowski, who is the vice-president of the Polish Tennis Federation, said that a member of his federation was told to vote in favour of the deal otherwise ‘the ITF will be bankrupt.’ There has been talk in recent weeks about the Davis Cup struggling financially, but no substantial evidence to back that theory has come to light. A Source from the Polish Federation has indicated to Ubitennis that the country will vote against the proposal. Along with the Czech Republic and Slovakia, who are likely to oppose the changes according to another source.
There is some positivity from certain European members. One of the biggest backers of the plan is France’s Bernard Giudicelli, who is the president of his country’s federation. Even though both Yannick Noah and Amalie Mauresmo has spoken against it. Mauresmo is the current French Davis Cup captain.
In Great Britain, they are yet to make a decision of what they will vote. Although Stuart Fraser from The Times has reported that the LTA is ‘leaning towards the proposal.’ A significant win for the ITF if true. The country is one of five countries to have a maximum of 12 votes. Along with Australia (voting against), France (voting for), Germany (unknown) and the USA (voting for).
A vote on the Davis Cup revamp will take place on Thursday. It requires two thirds of the votes in order for it to be approved.
Later this week Ubitennis will be publishing an exclusive article about the purposed Davis Cup changes with views from both journalists and tennis federations.
