Davis Cup Crisis Center

Mornin'. I just filed an ESPN post in which I compare the first-round of Davis Cup to Super Tuesday, and take another look at how the format could be changed or improved. And despite my enthusiasm for the event as is, I do think it could be made better. The major flaw of the competition, and the most valid excuse a top player can make for skipping the competition, is the ranking-points situation (players earn no ranking points for Davis Cup performance). You can play a full four weeks of Davis Cup - the equivalent, time-wise, of two Grand Slams - and earn not a single  point toward your ranking.

For those, like me, who believe the year-end No. 1 ranking is the ultimate achievement in tennis (although it's theoretically possible, it will be a cold day in hail when the year-end No. 1 earns that honor without winning at least on major), the current no-points system is the Achilles heel of the competition. Besides, in Davis Cup terms, doesn't the ranking system itself look compromised when it doesn't acknowledge achievements in one of the game's hallmark events?

Roger Federer currently is chasing Pete Sampras's record of consecutive years at No. 1, and even if you believe The Mighty Fed ought to play every tie for the Swiss, the reality is that he will not. But I think he might have a change of heart if the Davis Cup would seem to be in a lesser conflict with his schedule -  his schedule being nothing more than his template for winning majors and thereby consolidating or improving his hold on the top spot in the rankings. You put sufficient ranking points on offer, and players like TMF and Rafael Nadal may see the Davis Cup through different eyes.

Right now, the ITF and ATP are living in the past. The Davis Cup competition was always a bit of a political football in the unspoken and sometimes acrimonious competition between the two main entities in men's tennis. But Davis Cup simply is too great an asset and, in this era of global growth, far too potent a vehicle for presenting and promoting tennis, for the ATP and the ITF to ignore the opportunity of further enhancing the status of the event.

Just as the ATP has made its peace with the Grand Slams and come to terms with their pre-eminent place in the game, It's time for the ATP to find common ground with ITF on Davis Cup. The Lords of Tennis need to make it impossible - or at least unwise - for the players to decline Davis Cup duty in the same way that it's unwise of them to by-pass majors, just because they don't like the surface. There's no good reason to force players to choose between nation and self-interest when it comes to the game. And if you took a straw poll of the players, I'll bet that the overwhelming number of them would love to see Davis Cup better integrated into their culture - even if doing so demands some creative thinking and adjustments to the ranking system.

You can read my basic suggestion for remedying the current situation at ESPN (the post should be live soon), but the bottom line is that the ATP and ITF must - and can - hammer out a ranking-points solution. Does anyone out there really believe this cannot be done?

Anyway, here's your match-calling thread for today. How 'bout that Dudi Sela!