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AAlbert Costa, three-time winner of the Davis Cup for Spain, as a player and captain, hopes the tradition will be enough to counter opposition to the radical changes that have affected the 118-year-old competition, but predicts a merger with the rival World Cup ATP, in the next two years could eventually settle the conflict.
"We know that one form of the Davis Cup is over and another will happen," Costa told the Guardian on Wednesday, recalling the last of the previous finals – in Lille on the weekend, when Croatia was beating France 3- 1 – and the experimentation that he will lead as tournament director in Madrid next November.
"At the end of the day, everyone wanted a change and [the investment company] Kosmos and [Barcelona footballer] Gerard [Piqué] did it. This is very good for everyone, especially for the players, for the fans. Of course, the feelings are mixed, but the new competition will be much better than the old one. "
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic, world No. 1 – who will boycott Madrid – has complicated Costa's task considerably when it was revealed that he was campaigning to rule out the rule that players can not claim the right to play. Olympic Games that they play in Davis Cup. If the leading players do not need to play in Madrid in November to play Tokyo in July next, their already strong attachment to the ten-day World Cup ATP in Melbourne in January 2020 will be enormously strengthened.
Costa acknowledges that the new ATP event has merit, but he retorts: "This is not the official tournament of the countries. I know it sounds like the new Davis Cup final, but it's completely different. [With the] Davis Cup, you play for your country and your federation is behind you, the public opinion is behind you, your government is behind you, everyone is behind you. You feel this pressure and that is what makes the Davis Cup so important.
"With a new contest, you do not feel like that. I've already played in the Team World Cup in Dusseldorf, which was similar, although it's going to be bigger, and I never felt like when I was playing in Davis Cup.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert, specialist of the double French, echoed the cynicism of Djokovic in Lille this weekend. "We hope that the new format will not work and that we will return to the old one," he said. "When we left the stadium, we took a picture of that moment because we do not know if it will happen again." He had the moral support of his losing teammate, Lucas Pouille – and a majority of the crowd, judging by their sporadic whistle from the ITF officials.
Near-daily developments suggest that the power play between ITF President David Haggerty and his ATP counterpart Chris Kermode could be resolved in 2020, but Costa is not as blind as some face the vigor of the opposition. merger for a unified global team competition, including the WTA.
"It's a reality," he says. "Everyone is talking and I think it's an open door to do a mixed contest and do it together. That's what my information is. At the end of the day, I think it will be better for all the tennis, but we'll see how it goes. We are two years old trying to convince ATP and the world of tennis that maybe two competitions are good for none of us.
If there is to be an amicable solution to an argument that everyone can see except those who are able to avoid it, it will require the wise advice of past players such as Costa to facilitate the things because it includes both sides of the argument. For example, it hears complaints from players regarding the final schedule – just six weeks before the ATP event.
"I can understand the point of the players," he says, "but the reality is that now, if they are in the final, they have to play in the Davis Cup at that time. it only takes two weeks to get the chance to win the Davis Cup, before you had to play four weeks and more than five sets, your efforts were greater, and now six countries only have to play one week and the other twelve two weeks only. "
• The new Davis Cup will end with an 18-team end-of-season tournament at a neutral venue in November, hoping that the FIT will be more attractive to elite players.
• Countries can access the final from a 24-team qualifying round in February comprised of home and away matches. The 12 winners advance; the losers are relegated to group 1 and play tied in April / September.
• The previous year's Davis Cup semi-finalists will join the 12 nations qualified in the November finals, with two wildcards.
• The November finals consist of six groups of three teams in a round robin format, with two singles and one doubles in a draw. The matches are the best of the three sets.
• Group winners qualify for quarterfinals with single elimination. The top two second place teams join them.
• The four teams that win their quarter-finals will qualify for the following year. Ethan Van Ristell
Costa admits that he will probably miss the old format, so precious for traditionalists and romantics. "It's only human. But the fact is that I would have liked to have this new contest. When I was a player, we already asked [the ITF] to change things. Now it's done and I think it will be much better for everyone: for players, for fans, for television, for the press. We will do it for the first time, then the whole world will see how it works and how good is the competition. "
He says he has his longtime friend and former double partner, Rafael Nadal, although he is not sure of the other big hitters. And it's always a bet, right? "Right now, maybe. For the moment, it does not exist. We need to show people how it's going to be, so maybe we can make an opinion. At the moment, we can talk. I can not imagine how it will be – and I like this idea. We must show it to the world. "
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