World No.3 Roger Federer has said he was given just three days to decide if he wanted to play in the newly revamped Davis Cup competition, which will take place from 2019 onwards.
The 20-time grand slam champion spoke out about the event following his win over Daniil Medvedev at the Swiss Indoors. Next November, 18 teams will participate in a week-long tournament hosted at the Caja Magica in Spain for the first time. The revamp has split opinion among the tennis community despite it being approved at the International Tennis Federation’s AGM meeting in August. Investment firm Kosmos has pledged to invest $3 billion over the next 25 years in the event.
Speaking about his future participation in the Davis Cup, Federer told reporters on Saturday that has was given a short time frame to make a decision. Confirming that he was issued with a three-day deadline. It is unclear as to why that specific time was given to the Swiss player. Although The Times newspaper had previously reported that Switzerland would have been given a wild card into the finals if Federer committed to play.
“They only left me three days to decide,” Federer told reporters in Basel. “I didn’t to have time to consult with all the people I had to consult.
“I could not make a decision in that time, so I told them to do what they wanted.”
The 20-time grand slam champion has previously cast doubts about playing in the tournament in the future. During the Shanghai Rolex Masters earlier this year, the 37-year-old said the new Davis Cup ‘wasn’t designed for him.’
“We’ll see what happens. I don’t think this was designed for me, anyhow. This was designed for the future generation of players.” He said.
Federer isn’t the only star named uncertain for the event. Alexander Zverev has become the first top 10 player to publicly rule himself out of the finals. Citing the ‘crazy’ scheduling as the reason. The Davis Cup finals occur at the very end of the tennis season after the ATP World Tour Finals. French newspaper L’Equipe has also reported that a boycott letter from a group of players has been sent to the ITF. The names of the players have not been published, but both Federer and Zverev have denied any knowledge about it.
Gerard Pique, who is the founder of Kosmos, has previously played-down the prospect of some star names skipping the event. Recently saying that he is confident that Rafael Nadal will play if not injured, before adding ‘with the number one, it is already more than enough.’
“We want to focus on teams not individuals, on players representing their nation and their federation and on building the best teams possible,” said Pique.
The Davis Cup finals will take place between November 18 to 24.
