posted Feb 29, 2008

McEnroe is wrong about Davis Cup. Surely, he committed himself to it but others like Connors, and Sampras haven't.

There is nothing wrong in top players not playing in Davis Cup. This gives an opportunity for less well known players to burst on to the international scene. Remember Guga? Without a Davis cup, many players will never have the chance to play at the top level.

Top player is defined by ranking points. You gain ranking points by playing grandslams and masters series and not by playing Davis Cup. So here there is a contradiction. So if you want top players to play Davis Cup then you give top points to players playing Davis Cup.

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posted Feb 29, 2008

Why should a player have to do anything they don't want to? Tennis is not a team sport; it's about individual players, not countries. To me, the Davis Cup represents an annoying and uninteresting interval in between the proper ranking tournaments.

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posted Feb 29, 2008

I think that's exactly the point McEnroe is making - that it SHOULDN'T be seen as nothing but an afterthought. The fact that it IS one was never disputed.

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posted Feb 29, 2008

I think that the players should be able to choose whether or not the participate in the Davis cup. I much prefer watching high profile players competing in the smaller tournaments and by the looks of things they prefer it too.

No great tennis player is judged on their Davis cup performance but rather how many ATP titles/Slams they win.

Of course top tennis players would rather focus on improving their ranking in the tournaments that matter and if they feel Davis cup hinders that then i can perfectly understand why these players are withdrawing. They are still representing their country by playing on the main tour, look at the reception Djokovic got in his home country after winning the AO.

Perhaps the davis cup should be used to blood up and coming players from the countries competing and make it beneficial to young tennis players development.

The only other option is to give ranking points for playing in the Davis cup, something i feel is unworkable as some players may never be selected and thus be unfair to the rest of the players on tour.

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posted Feb 29, 2008

If the Davis Cup is valued so highly in the calendar, the only thing that would make all top players participate would be to cancel all events happening the week after Davis Cup weekend. Never going to happen, but the only solution.

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posted Mar 1, 2008

The Davis Cup must be retained in some format. We all know that it is very isolated playing the circuit. If you are lucky, and can afford it, you may have a small supportive entourage. If you are not in that fortunate position it must be an extremely lonely existence particularly if you lose. Tennis must retain team events. In my own limited tennis career I did enjoy winning my club championship but the real sustaining enjoyment came when playing in my district league with 5 guys of a similar age. After matches we would retire to the nearest pub exchange views on each other girlfriends, bitch about Maggie and Reagen and all the normal things that groups of blokes and women do when they are together in a social setting. I remember us winning the district league one season, having a group photo in the press, and having one hell of a piss up afterwards before being taxied home. These memories stay with you. What other support could be construed as selfish and individual? One that readily comes to mind is golf. Ok, the major championships are fine, but for an exciting spectacle with players, normally fierce rivals, busting their guts for each other and their respective countries, the Ryder Cup takes some beating. Even in tennis Roddick and his fellow Yanks probably would highlight their Davis Cup Final weekend as one of the highlights of their careers. So, how to engender the same universal camaraderie, interest and passion amongst players and fans for the Davis Cup? It has to be restructuring the Davis Cup to be held not annually but say once every 2 or 4 years having qualifying tournament as in the football World Cup ie take the familiarity breeds contempt out of the equation by holding it less frequently. Then have a month long tennis festival where the top 16 who qualify play a league format to start and then the knock out quarters, semis, and final. Hopefully, in this environment supporters and players alike can mix amicably and create an event on a par with the Slams. Over to you tennis governing bodies - it is time to scrap the anachronistic format and move tennis team play into the 21st Century.

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posted Mar 1, 2008

Good views, Jolly. Your suggestion would be excellent, if the ATP could find room for it in the calendar, which they should be able to. Whether to reduce the rubbers to best of three in this scenario should probably be taken into account.
Davis Cup finals are very special. But for GB, who will never make a final, the Davis Cup doesn't seem too important. If we had better players and a chance to win it, then maybe we would take it more seriously.

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posted Mar 2, 2008

For the Davis Cup to be more of a (national) team event, I would propose to have four singles played by 4 different men and one doubles match, or have 5 different men play five singles matches. I think table tennis has or used to have something similar.
In this way, one player cannot make the difference often seen now, and depth is tested.

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posted Mar 3, 2008

The David Cup deserves the same exalted status as the 4 Grand Slams.

Perhaps there should be an award of ATP points for Davis Cup participation in order to attract the elite? Also make Davis Cup participation mandatory for entry into the year ending Winners Cup?

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posted Mar 3, 2008

Badminton has the right idea with the format, mens singles, mens doubles, mixed doubles, womens singles, womens doubles. All played on one day to give a match result.

This combined with the idea of holding in every 2 years would raise the profile as someone like Murray would not be able to play all matches and therefore it would better show strength of countries.

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