The new Davis Cup reforms have angered players such as Lucas Pouille, Nicolas Mahut, Robin Haase and John Millman and also federations.
The reforms were approved today after a 71% approval from the AGM meeting in Orlando, Florida. It means that the Davis Cup will now have an 18 team world group at the end of the season and has a 3 billion dollar investment for grassroot tennis for the next 25 years. For more information on next year’s format, please watch the following guide below, which explains the new ‘Davis Cup’:
However the reforms have not gone down well with some of the players and federations. Especially with the players as they were not allowed to have a say in a competition that they will ultimately be playing in. Here are some of the most high profile reactions:
Lucas Pouille
The Frenchman was not happy at the reforms and before the vote, stated he would boycott the competition if they were passed. He said the following on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/la_pouille/status/1030143416208908288
Robin Haase: “I always played tennis because it is my passion. Yes many players can make a good living from it. So do I. However it is not the reason why I started. It has always been an honour to represent my country but now a beautiful event only became about money.”
Nicolas Mahut
The French doubles specialist wrote the following, “Even Cincinnati mourns the ridiculous decision of the ITF. The 12 voices of the FFT have done very badly. Very difficult decision to assume as a Frenchman. The CD (Coupe Davis) died and part of our history flew away for a handful of dollars.”
Même Cincinnati pleure cette décision ridicule de @ITF_Tennis Les 12 voix de la FFT ont fait très mal.Décision très difficile à assumer en tant que français…La CD est morte et une partie de l’histoire de notre sport envolée pour une poignée de dollars. #decudenoselus #politique pic.twitter.com/UfsfRuKhAd
— Nico Mahut (@nmahut) August 16, 2018
John Millman
The Australian compared it to someone doing the same thing to the Champions League in Football and explained how it was ironic that the reforms passed on National Tell A Joke Day in Australia:
https://twitter.com/johnhmillman/status/1030081610115416065
https://twitter.com/johnhmillman/status/1030098787635810304
Anabel Medina Garrigues
The Spanish Fed Cup captain wasn’t amused that the Women weren’t getting a mention in all of this as they still only have an eight team World Group. She stated, “It is alright that there is debate and voting in tennis, discussion about tournaments and formats. But what about women’s tennis? What about the Fed Cup? Why the same institution (ITF) that’s considering reformatting the Davis Cup, is not taking into consideration women’s tennis?”
Tennis Australia and DTB
Finally, Tennis Australia and the German Tennis federation were not happy at the result as both Federations voted against the reforms. The DTB chairman, Ulrich Klaus, said the following statement, “This result is a very bitter pill to swallow. Right now, I am at a loss for words. Sadly, the discussion in the last few days was mainly about money and not about the sport.”
While Tennis Australia sent out the following statement:
Tennis Australia statement re #DavisCup pic.twitter.com/qvuGAJa397
— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) August 16, 2018
It is clear that although many federations, David Haggerty and Gerard Pique are happy at the reforms, the players that will be involved in it certainly are not.
