MADRID — Nerves have been a part of Davis Cup since tennis’s oldest staff competitors started 119 years in the past.
However the edginess has a special supply than standard this week in Madrid, the place Davis Cup’s remaining rounds have been radically transformed by an unlikely partnership between the Worldwide Tennis Federation and Spanish soccer star Gerard Piqué.
The suspense, for a change, appears much less about who will win the large, gleaming trophy and extra about how a lot anybody will care who wins the large, gleaming trophy.
It makes for an odd vibe, and opening day on Monday was, firstly, about evaluating the dimensions and keenness of the crowds, not about scrutinizing the forehands and backhands.
The primary impression was clear: Attendance was underwhelming on the Caja Mágica tennis complicated, with all three of its coated stadiums removed from full for the day’s three head-to-head staff matches.
However on this new and unsure period, it might be unfair to guage the product too rapidly, even when, at this stage, the one matches which can be bought out this week are the 2 involving Spain and its highly regarded chief, Rafael Nadal.
In all, there are 18 groups gathered for this remaining part, together with two nations that acquired wild playing cards: Argentina and Britain, which has Andy Murray again on its squad as he continues his comeback from main hip surgical procedure.
Whether or not or not you relish the wild-card idea — and I actually don’t until it’s the host nation — the 18 groups are divided into six teams. The group winners and two subsequent finest groups will advance to the quarterfinals, which start Thursday. All matches are best-of-three units, and every head-to-head staff matchup includes two singles matches adopted by a doubles match.
It appears like a dash in comparison with the long-form Davis Cup duels of the previous, which had been best-of-five units and contested over three days with 4 singles matches and a doubles match. On the prime degree, there have been additionally 4 rounds over the course of a yr.
However with the highest gamers taking part in the occasion solely intermittently and with long-term viability and income a priority, the I.T.F., led by its American president David Haggerty, voted to alter the format starting this yr after receiving a profitable supply from Kosmos, the funding group presided over by Piqué.
“I feel you’ve bought to take a look at it as a complete, have a look at the large image,” stated Mardy Fish, a former prime 10 participant who’s the brand new captain of the USA Davis Cup staff. “It feels totally different, slightly totally different, positive, however the bones are there. The taking part in in your nation is there, and the staff half is there, and it’s at all times particular placing on the flag and placing on the jacket. There’s something very highly effective concerning the American flag and having it in your chest.”
The USA, that includes two Davis Cup rookies in Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka, will make its debut within the new format on Tuesday. The U.S. will face Canada, which defeated Italy on Monday after one other of the sport’s brilliant younger abilities, Denis Shapovalov, clinched the victory over the brand new Italian star Matteo Berrettini, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), in what amounted to the brand new Davis Cup’s first thriller.
Participation of star gamers was one of many massive justifications for messing with the Cup’s wealthy custom, however solely 5 of the present prime 10 are in Madrid.
Although No. 1 Nadal and No. 2 Novak Djokovic are right here, No. four Dominic Thiem and No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas, who dueled Sunday at the ATP Finals, should not as a result of their international locations, Austria and Greece, didn’t qualify. No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, worn down from a profitable fall, withdrew and was not on the Russian staff that beat Croatia on Monday. And Davis Cup refuseniks Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev are offering loads of social-media competitors with a big-money exhibition tour of Latin America.
Tennis Channel in the USA will present a type of exhibition matches on Sunday after failing to conform to monetary phrases with Kosmos on the rights to Davis Cup. As a substitute, Fox Sports activities 2 will broadcast the American staff’s matches and the championship match in the USA.
“Folks go to Tennis Channel to look at tennis, and so they have exhibitions on there as a substitute of actual stuff,” Fish stated. “It’s disappointing, and I do know the blokes are disillusioned.”
Eric Abner, a spokesman for Tennis Channel, stated: “We’re disillusioned, too. We need to present Davis Cup. It comes right down to sources.”
Much less excessive choices had been thought of for the Davis Cup format: making it a biennial as a substitute of an annual occasion; or having the semifinals and the ultimate at a impartial web site with two earlier rounds performed within the conventional home-and-away format.
And if you happen to hearken to the skeptics, much less excessive choices might ultimately be reconsidered.
“I’ll wager you something you want that in most two years they will change the format once more,” stated Ion Tiriac, the previous Davis Cup star for Romania, in a latest interview.
Tiriac is a longtime tennis coach and agent, who can be the proprietor of the match held in Madrid within the Caja Mágica annually in Could. For Tiriac, 80, the Davis Cup transformation is a travesty.
“It’s a joke and a shame,” he stated. “They’ve ruined the jewel of tennis.”
Piqué, in an interview earlier this yr, performed down Tiriac’s criticisms.
“He’s very old-fashioned in the way in which he sees issues and on the similar time being in Madrid, each of us, is one thing that doesn’t assist,” Piqué stated. “Possibly if as a substitute of Madrid, we had been taking part in the primary two years of this even in France, he would have a special feeling.”
For Piqué, extra accustomed to coping with opposing strikers than tennis energy brokers, his Davis Cup journey has been fairly a steep studying curve.
He approached leaders of the I.T.F. and the boys’s tour, the ATP, with Kosmos’s idea of a World Cup-style staff occasion. However even after the I.T.F. turned Kosmos’s associate, negotiations continued with the ATP.
With the events near an settlement in 2018, the deal collapsed. The ATP created its personal males’s staff occasion, the ATP Cup, which will probably be held in early January in Australia with 24 groups and, for now, commitments from 9 of the highest 10 males within the rankings.
That may make for 2 very related competitions inside seven weeks of one another, which is, naturally, removed from excellent. However Piqué has continued to specific his perception {that a} merger or joint deal can ultimately be accomplished.
“I’m very assured that sooner or later we will do it,” he stated. “I can inform you that we’ve got tried, and we are going to maintain attempting, as a result of we imagine that is the way in which to go, however on the similar time we’ve got to face actuality.”
For now, the fact is that the Davis Cup finals will probably be staged in these less-than-ideal November dates in Madrid this yr and subsequent yr. However Kosmos and the I.T.F. may select a special venue or totally different dates sooner or later.
“I see it with a long-term view,” Piqué stated. “The deal is for 25 years.”
The long-term view actually appeared the extra nice view when the opening ceremony befell on Monday afternoon in a important stadium that was lower than half full.
However by the point night arrived, there was the 20-year-old Shapovalov holding off the 23-year-old Berrettini and howling with unfeigned delight earlier than celebrating along with his teammates and a small however rowdy group of red-clad Canadian followers.
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