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Changes are needed A new format would greatly enhance the Davis Cup
This weekend, the United States and Spain meet in Santander to decide which country will meet Australia in the Davis Cup final. The question is -- how many people, even tennis fans, really care? Davis Cup, the one major event in men's tennis in which the me generation is required to adopt a team mentality, should be among the most compelling spectacles of any year. After all, it's nation against nation, us against them, war without weapons, competition at its most fundamental. So why is it that the passion conveyed by men like U.S skipper John McEnroe, hardly seems to generate a ripple in the sporting world?
My feeling is that the problem with Davis Cup's lack of universal appeal lies in its ludicrously spread out schedule. While international tournaments in sports like soccer, rugby and cricket are staged every four years and condensed into just a few weeks of intense action, tennis chooses to stage its equivalent of the world cup annually, thereby blurring the distinction between one world championship and the beginning of another. It's also held over 11 months, during which time the progress of the competition is lost amid the furor surrounding the Grand Slams and other individual tournaments. The result for the Davis Cup is that it becomes a diluted competition with little momentum and no team identity. To change that situation and garner the Davis Cup the attention it deserves, it seems obvious to me that the competition requires a simple change of format. How much more compelling would the Davis Cup be if it was played once every two years, as opposed to annually, with one nation hosting for two weeks straight?
And why not follow the example of soccer, by splitting the 16 teams in the elite world group into four groups of four who play a series of round-robin league games, followed by knock-out quarterfinals for the top eight finishers, leading to the semifinals and final. It's not a revolutionary format of course, but what it does do is create a condensed spectacle in which fans can get involved. A revised format would also benefit the team captains. Firstly, because the ATP season could be suspended for the duration of the Davis Cup finals, and possibly for a fortnight before the finals to allow for preparation, so giving the players the best chance to arrive fresh, focused and uninjured. And secondly, because it would raise the status of the event, so that captains are less likely to face the sudden withdrawal of their best players for what have often been relatively petty reasons. In short, a revised Davis Cup would show the fans that the sport's hierarchy regard it as a serious competition, not a 100-year old relic with no real relevance, that's an occasional add-on to the season proper. After all, it's national pride at stake here for goodness sake, and in what other sport is that ever allowed to become a side issue. Terry Baddoo is co-host of World Sport, the international sports show that airs live on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN International. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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