Organisers of the Davis Cup are keen to win over players with the new format of their 119-year-old tournament, but Rafael Nadal is refraining from giving his full backing yet.
The world No.1 made his debut in this week’s event on Tuesday during Spain’s clash with Russia. Nadal was instrumental in his country’s 2-1 victory after clinching a tightly-contested two-set win over Karen Khachanov to level the clash. Spain then went on to prevail in the doubles match. The night-time encounter drew a packed crowd at the Caja Magica in Madrid. A much-needed boost for the ITF following recent concerns over attendance at the event to some ties.
This week in the first time the newly formatted finals have come into place. 18 teams have been split into five groups with only eight progressing to the quarter-final stage. Similar to the of the FIFA World Cup. The controversial changes have been met with a mixed response in the tennis world, but Nadal has been seen as one of the key backers. Although he is yet to reach a final verdict when asked to comment on how successful the event has been so far.
“The atmosphere was amazing,” said Nadal.
“It is difficult to answer today. Let me wait until the tournament is over to have a clear and better opinion.”
One criticism from the 19-time grand slam champion concerns the late-night finishes. Spain didn’t start their final match until after midnight. Less than 18 hours before they are scheduled to start their next clash with Croatia on Wednesday evening at 6pm local time.
“The only negative in my opinion is we are just starting the last match and it’s 12.45am. That means big trouble for us the players and also for the people who have come to the stadium too, because tomorrow is a workday. It makes everything difficult,” he argues.
Team mate Feliciano Lopez added to the concerns by saying the scheduling is ‘not the best.’ Although the 38-year-old insists that it should not be used as an excuse by the teams. Lopez, who made his Davis Cup debut back in 2003, was part of the winning doubles team against Russia.
“The competition schedules are not the best because if a game was long this could happen, although it is what it is.” Lopez said. “We have a more compressed week, but all the groups are the same and it does not serve as an excuse.”
“This competition has a very different format and you have to adapt because sometimes you depend on a set. I think everything is much fairer, more disputed and equals everything.” He added.
In its inaugural edition, the tournament has fair reasonably well so far with only a few minor blips. Although the main issue is attendance to ties not involving the host nation. The Caja Magica can hold up to 18000 people simultaneously. The centre court has the biggest capacity of 12,000. Furthermore, Court No.1 seats 3500 and Court No.2 holds 2500.
However, the Spanish team insists the biggest issue lies with the scheduling of ties. Team captain Sergi Bruguera said he originally planned for Nadal to play in the doubles, but had to make changes due to the time. Explaining that he didn’t want to compromise the chances of injury-stricken Nadal playing later in the competition.
“It is clear that when it (the new Davis Cup) is done the first few times there may be some errors,” Bruguera said.
“But it is clear that something has to be done, because you cannot finish the games at two in the morning. I could not put my number one player because we were playing at 12:30. It is evident that this must be adjusted next time, for sure.”
Spain have won the Davis Cup five times with their last triumph occurring back in 2011.
Wednesday’s order of play
Morning (11:00 CET)
Centre Court: Serbia v Japan
Stadium 2: Argentina v Germany
Stadium 3: Great Britain v Netherlands
Afternoon (not before 18:00 CET)
Centre Court: Croatia V Spain
Stadium 2: USA v Italy
Stadium 3: Belgium V Australia
