By Trevor Stynes
TURIN, Italy (Reuters) -Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are among the world’s top players calling for the Davis Cup to return to its traditional home-and-away format and be staged over two years, a proposal backed by ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi.
The old format of home-and-away ties played over a few days every year was scrapped by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in 2019, and this year’s Final 8 in Bologna begins two days after Sunday’s ATP Finals decider in Turin.
Sinner, who is into the ATP Finals last four and was part of the Italy team which won the last two Davis Cups, ruled himself out of selection this year to concentrate on preparations for his Australian Open defence.
“I never unfortunately played the Davis Cup, the real Davis Cup, where it’s away, playing in Argentina or in Brazil with the whole stadium, not against you, but for the other team,” Sinner said after his win over Ben Shelton on Friday.
“It can happen that Australia plays against U.S. next year in Bologna. You don’t have this Davis Cup feeling.”
The relentless calendar and lack of a proper off-season is an ongoing debate and the Professional Tennis Players’ Association filed a lawsuit against the sport’s governing bodies in March, describing the situation as unsustainable.
“I think playing with this schedule, Davis Cup, it’s difficult that you have every year from every country the best players in the world,” Sinner said.
“What I would like is having Davis Cup throughout two years. You can set up the semi-finals in the beginning of the year and the final at the end of the year.”
World number one Alcaraz, who is competing for Spain this year and is also into the last four of the ATP Finals, was asked about the Davis Cup after his win over Lorenzo Musetti on Thursday, following Musetti’s withdrawal from the Italy team.
“If the tournament is played every two or three years the commitment of the players, it’s going to be even more because it’s unique, it’s different,” Alcaraz said.
“You’re not able to play every year. I would say they have to do something about it to make the Davis Cup unique.”
ATP chairman Gaudenzi spoke to reporters in Turin on Thursday, and also broached the Davis Cup topic when speaking about scheduling issues.
“I do really love the Davis Cup. I think it’s an amazing event,” Gaudenzi said.
“We should all come together to try to make it the World Cup for tennis. In an ideal world I think the Davis Cup could go home and away and over two years.”
German Alexander Zverev will compete in Bologna and on Friday he exited the ATP Finals after defeat to Felix Auger-Aliassime.
“The true Davis Cup is the home-and-away ties,” Zverev said.
“I don’t think this Davis Cup is the real Davis Cup. It’s an exhibition tournament in a way, that is called Davis Cup.
“To play against Italy in Italy would be a completely different atmosphere than playing Italy in Spain. I played against Rafa Nadal in a bullfighting arena.
“That’s for me the real Davis Cup.”
(Reporting by Trevor StynesEditing by Shri Navaratnam)
Comments