Novak Djokovic wants to see changes to the Davis Cup, arguing that the present structure stops top players from regularly participating in the event.
David Haggerty, the new president of the International Tennis Federation, has suggested holding the semifinals and finals together in one location.
Djokovic was pleased to hear talk of new scheduling.
"I'm glad that they are at least considering, talking about it," he told reporters in Doha. “But I am hoping for the format to change, because obviously if you look at—especially in the last five, 10 years—you don't have many top players playing Davis Cup throughout the entire year because it's just a terrible schedule.
“I mean, you can't expect, you know, top players to participate in every Davis Cup match when it comes after every Grand Slam. You have the whole season and you play for a month-and-a-half, and then you have to play in completely different conditions."
The current timing of ties is based on a request that was made several years ago from top players.
Djokovic said he would like to see "group stages, four teams of four played, and then you play [the] final four in a neutral place."
He acknowledged that the move would be controversial.
”Of course the downside is that the federations will complain, saying, ‘Many federations get their main income from the Davis Cups, Davis Cup ties played at home,’” he said. “But you can create such financial structure where you say, OK, if you create a different format that would attract more attention, that would generate more revenue. Then you can share that revenue, of course, distributed equally to the federations so everybody is satisfied."
The Serb noted the satisfaction he has gotten from playing the Davis Cup, yet was adamant that some kind of change is required to further popularize the team competition.
"You know, this is the only official team competition that we have in sport,” he said. “So why not create something that will be, you know, better for everybody?
Djokovic led Serbia to the Davis Cup title in 2010.