David Cup will never be the same for the next generation, says Roger Federer
Reflecting on the changes made in the Davis Cup format, Roger Federer has commented that the experiences of playing the Davis Cup will not be the same for the next generation. He hopes that tennis authorities will abide by the promises made for the purpose of the development of the tournament.
There is going to be a downright change in the format of the Davis Cup. An investment group, Kosmos, led by the Barcelona football player Gerard Pique in association with Chinese and Japanese will be investing to introduce a change in the tournament. A sum of $3 billion will be spent over a term of 25 years.
They will do away with the procedure of conducting four rounds of the Cup at the home and away venues for the whole year and the final encounter between the teams of the two nations that remain. They will be planting a one-week shootout between the 18 nations participating, which will be played in November in a rotating schedule around the venues.
Roger Federer hopes that the promises that have been made are duly carried out rather than the whole thing being another experiment gone wrong like the ATP Tour in 2000. He mentioned that he is upset because of the fact that the new generation will not get to experience Davis Cup in all its former glory.
“I feel sad about it, you know, not to have the Davis Cup as it used to be. It will never be the same for the next generation. I just hope that every penny of that mass of money will be paid for the next generation,” Federer said at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters.
“We’ve seen a similar situation way back when with the ATP Tour and it set us back in a big way. I don’t want that to happen again,” he added.
In 2000, the Swiss ISL promotion firm which had taken the responsibility of investing $1.2 billion over ten years in the ATP Tour went bankrupt. However, ATP was able to recover from the situation to reach the current glory. Federer had won Davis Cup in 2014 for Switzerland against France.
“Clearly the ITF has never historically involved the players. (The solution) is definitely flawed in some ways. I’m all for
Novak Djokovic has also shared his views on the change of format in Davis Cup, although he said that something had to be done for the tournament.
“Change was inevitable for the format. I’m really glad that, people of ITF are understanding the urgency of changing the format and the schedule. It was just not right, especially for the top players. In the last 10 years you could see that,” he said.
“Very few top players have played consistently in the Davis Cup competition, which was, till recently, the only team, official team competition we have in our sport,” Djokovic added.
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