SPAIN

Madrid hosts first revamped Davis Cup finals

November 18, 2019

Novak Djokovic has confirmed his participation in the revamped 2019 Davis Cup Finals in Madrid, adding star power in a year that will test the recent decision of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to radically alter the 119-year-old competition. Not everyone is happy with the changes.

Andy Murray and Djokovic are among the stars to have reacted positively to the creation of an annual season-ending event, which will have a total purse of US $20 million. In contrast, Tennis Australia said it was "extremely disappointed with the radical changes," and French legend Yannick Noah accused the ITF of selling the soul of the Davis Cup.

The new finals format will see 18 teams heading to Madrid in November for a tournament that has been converted into a World Cup-style event, with a group stage and knockouts played over one week. The new format will have the usual five sets reduced to three.

In the expiring format, national teams played five best-of-five-sets matches in four weeks spread over a stretch of months at sites around the world.

The ITF announced in September that the new format will also see the creation of a Davis Cup World Group I and World Group II immediately below the top tier of the competition, replacing the regional Group I and Group II ties currently being played in the Americas, Asia/Oceania and Europe/Africa. As part of these changes, the ITF will introduce an additional play-off round for both World Group I and World Group II that will be held alongside the Davis Cup Qualifiers in Mar 2020.

Founded in 1900, the Davis Cup has suffered in recent years because so many top players have opted out of playing the three-day ties during the regular season.

Croatia clinched a 3-1 victory over France in 2018 in the last outing of the Davis Cup’s traditional format.

#23281 Published: September 27, 2019