This weekend a group of the world’s best male tennis players will join forces to compete in an event that has been placed on the ATP calendar less than three years after it was created.
The Laver Cup, which is named after Australian great Rod Laver, is the master plan of a series of prestigious figures. Including 20-grand slam champion Roger Federer and his Team8 management company, as well as Tennis Australia. Emulating Golf’s Ryder Cup, team Europe takes on the rest of the world over a three-day period.
“The first two years were beyond everybody’s expectations, especially the first year when no-one really knew what to think going into it, but Roger and his team put on an incredible event,” Jack Sock told lavercup.com earlier this week.
The popularity of the event is best illustrated by its attendance figures. Officials say 83,273 people attended the 2017 event in Prague, Czech Republic and 93,584 visited the following year in Chicago. Mercedes Benz, Credit Suisse and Rolex are just some of the sponsors. The event is now officially included in the ATP Calendar. Meaning it has access to certain services such as marketing provided by the governing body of men’s tennis.
It is no doubt that the Laver Cup has been a success story so far. But what about the original men’s team tournament?
Founded in 1900, the Davis Cup pride themselves on tradition. Although 2019 marks a new chapter for the event following a highly debated revamp that has removed the prospect of home and away finals being played. In November 18 teams will feature in a week-long competition in a similar format to that of the football World Cup.
“It was very exciting, especially home ties. Now that those situations no longer exist, that you don’t have the advantage of playing at home, it may be different.” Former top 10 player Tommy Haas said during an interview with EFE News.
“Some changes were needed, but I’m not sure if those were the best for players in general, due to the dates at the end of the year. It’s better to be in one place, when it’s so late on the calendar and you try to gather all the players.’
“I’m looking forward to seeing how this will work out, who will play and how the competition will take place.”
In the wake of the revamp, Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique has become a kind of kingmaker in the tennis world. His investment company Kosmos has pledged to invest millions into the Davis Cup over the next two decades. Something that has drawn both praise and criticism. Federer once warned against the idea of turning the event into the ‘Pique Cup.’ A term the Barcelona-born player has dismissed.
“I just want to bring one of the most important tennis competitions to the top again,” Pique told The Financial Times in August.
Plenty of passion, but little agreement
Few can dispute Pique’s determination and resilience. However, can the men’s tour cope with three team events within a year? Bearing in mind five years ago the tour had one which was struggling financially. Besides the Laver and Davis Cup’s, from January the ATP will be reviving their own event in Australia. More significant is that the ATP Cup has the ability to offer both prize money ($15 million) and ranking points (up to 750).
“To me personally, it seems like we have gone from Davis Cup being on life support to this radical change that took place after far too long.” John McEnroe commented on the current situation.
“The Laver Cup was a big success and now we have the ATP Cup.’
“It seems like something is going to shake-out.”
If McEnroe is right, the question is which of these events would as he put it ‘shake-out’? All three has had millions invested and have numerous sponsorship deals in place. Pointing to what seems to be the only logical solution – collaboration. Something that is easier said than done.
In recent months, Federer has criticised aspects of the Davis Cup revamp. On top of that, the Swiss player is set to play in a series of exhibition matches during the same time as the Davis Cup finals with Juan Martin del Potro and Alexander Zverev. Meanwhile, the ITF has previously cast shade on the ATP for reviving their team tournament.
Finding a common ground has been something the parties have failed to achieve. For ITF president David Haggerty, his hope is that his team can form a bond with whomever replace Chris Kermode in the future. Kermode’s term as ATP CEO ends later this year.
“There is leadership change coming and once that’s completed we will continue discussions to see what’s the best date.” Haggerty told Sport Business.
“We need to have the first Davis Cup finals in November and the ATP Cup will be in January and then we will have more facts and have a good discussion.”
Ambiguity is perhaps the best word to describe the state of team events in men’s tennis. All three are continuing to do their own thing, but how long is it before one of the start to suffer?
Team tennis undoubtedly has a future in the sport. However, nobody knows what it will look like in the future. Not even those working on those events. This is perhaps the most worrying problem of them all.
