There was much that was bold and surprising in the proposal to overhaul Davis Cup that the ITF announced this spring. The Cup’s schedule, which currently consists of four weekends staggered over the course of the year, would be condensed into a single week. Home-and-away matches, which have made the event the most boisterous in tennis, would be abandoned in favor of a neutral site, likely in Asia. Best-of-five-set matches, as well as best-of-five-match ties, would be reduced to best-of-three.
Would the 118-year-old competition, once the sport’s most prestigious, even be called Davis Cup anymore? Maybe. In press releases, the new event was referred to as the World Cup of Tennis. From the perspective of one of its creators, this made sense: it’s the brainchild of Gerard Piqué, a soccer star from Barcelona. To tennis fans, though, hearing the name of our sport’s best-known team event suddenly changed into the name of soccer’s best-known team event may have been the most surprising, and jarring, part of the proposal.
We should be used to it by now. There is a long, mostly well-intentioned tradition of trying to make tennis—by updating its Victorian-era rules rules for the modern world—resemble other, more mainstream sports.
Tough Call - Is the ITF going too far with proposed Davis Cup changes?
