The former president of the ATP has said the most logical outcome for men’s tennis is to merge its two biggest team tennis events in the future.
Chris Kermode voiced his backing to such a move whilst recently speaking on The Tennis Podcast. There is an ongoing debate surrounding the future of the ATP Cup and Davis Cup competitions which are run by separate governing bodies and take place at opposite ends of the calendar. The ATP Cup is played in January and the Davis Cup Finals are usually held in November.
Kermode was the person who oversaw the creation of the ATP Cup, which made its debut this year. Unlike the Davis Cup, the event is able to offer both prize money and ranking points to players. Speaking about the current calendar, Kermode says it is ‘ludicrous’ that the two team events are separated by just two months as he comes out against playing such an event at the end of a season.
“I think that to happen so close to each other is ludicrous. I think it will change, how it will change I don’t know. But at some point, I think over the next couple of years there will be a solution,” Kermode told the Podcast.
“I fundamentally believe and very very strongly that the event should be played at the start of the year and the reason being is that all the players are fresh. It doesn’t effect any of the player participation throughout the rest of the year.”
It is not the first time there have been calls for a merger. Both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have previously spoken in favour of such a move. In February world No.1 Djokovic told reporters he believes that the current structure of those events are not a ‘sustainable model for tennis’ and spoke in favour of establishing a Super Cup.
Although such a change would be far from simple with the 120-year-old Davis Cup undergoing a controversial revamp within recent years, thanks to an injection of money from investment company Kosmos.
“I think week one if they could come together it would be a brilliant result,” Kermode commented.
The founder of Kosmos is Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique who has become a key figure in the sport in recent times. Pique previously held talks with the ATP about creating an event before striking a deal with the ITF, who run the Davis Cup.
“He’s very smart, very ambitious and very driven,” Kermode said of Pique.
“Logically, at the end of the season you would have the World Cup but it doesn’t work because Tennis is played from January pretty much throughout the whole year. It is just not a good time to have it in my view.”
Kermode stepped down as the head of the ATP at the end of 2019 after holding the position for a five-year period. Former player Andrea Gaudenzi now holds the role.
