Rohan Bopanna, Leander Paes all game for proposed changes to Davis Cup format
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Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna have welcomed the International Tennis Federation’s proposal of crunching the annual feature into a week-long tournament and stated that it was much needed. Paes also added that if there would be only one Davis Cup tie, all big players would participate in it.
The ITF is contemplating to shrink the annual feature into a seven-day tournament where the top 18 teams will take on each other in November instead of hosting it five times over five weekends across the year. The proposal will be submitted
“From an athlete’s perspective, Davis Cup was getting very long. Zonals or the World Group, you’re playing in February, straight after a Grand Slam. Top players, who have gone deep into the Australian Open, which is obviously very hot, are playing best of five-sets again (now it is best-of-three), three times in a weekend. Straight after Miami (Masters) in April, again you play (Davis Cup), after Wimbledon you play in July, then in September (after US Open). The two teams in the final, play again in November,” Paes, a veteran of 54 ties, told ToI.
“Also depending on who you’re playing, you can be flying from Australia to South America, Miami to Mumbai.”
Bopanna, who is the top-ranked Indian tennis player in world doubles at No.20, said that the new format would provide a reprieve for the players to prepare for the bigger tournaments.
“It gives you time to prepare for your other tournaments. Look at us Indians now, we’ll be flying from Miami to China to play Davis Cup, then from
Paes added, “If you look at the exhibition events happening in November and December it shows that there’s time in the calendar. I am sure there are some challenges, as they use the format they’ll know. From a player’s point of view, it’s good.
“Firstly, to make it best- of-three-sets. Someone like me, for 15-18 years I was playing all three days, singles, doubles, singles. Look at Aisam (Ul-Haq Qureshi), he’s doing it. In the World
“At the end of the day, the thought process was about making sure all players play. If you have Davis Cup, best-of-five, five times a year, players won’t play. They’ll get fed up, it’s too much.”
