Davis Cup shake-up as ITF announces World Cup of Tennis plan

LONDON: A massive shake-up of the Davis Cup competition will see the formation of an 18-nation World Cup of Tennis Finals, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said on Monday.

The one-week event played in one location in November could start next year, pending approval by the ITF Board.In a statement outlining a 25-year, $3 billion partnership with investment group Kosmos, ITF President David Haggerty said it would be a game-changer for the competition.

“Our vision is to create a major season-ending finale that will be a festival of tennis and entertainment, featuring the world’s greatest players representing their nations to decide the Davis Cup champions,” he said.

The new event would be the biggest revamp of the Davis Cup which has been in existence since 1900 but has suffered in recent years with top players not turning out for their nations.In the current format, 16 countries take part in a knockout competition starting in February and culminating in the final in November.

Each tie is best-of-five-matches, four singles and one doubles.Barcelona and Spain soccer player Gerard Pique, founder and president of Kosmos, has been a prime mover in the plans to transform the ITF’s flagship event.The investment from Kosmos will include significant increases in prize money for players and ITF member nations, according to the sport’s London-based governing body.

It would also help fund grass-roots projects.“This is a complete game-changer for the ITF and for tennis,” Haggerty said.“This new partnership will not only create a true World Cup of Tennis, but will also unlock record levels of new investment for future generations of tennis players and fans.”

The ITF said several “world-class” cities had expressed interest in hosting the new event.The plans will be submitted to the ITF Annual General Meeting, to be held in August in Orlando, Florida and a two-thirds majority will be required for final approval.

The event would be run on a round-robin format before a knockout phase with matches consisting of two singles and one doubles rubber.Matches will be played over best-of-three-sets.Sixteen World Group nations will automatically qualify for the Finals, with a further two nations to be selected.