The head of the French Tennis Federation (FFT) has once again voiced his opposition to the revamped Davis Cup by criticizing the International Tennis Federation.
Gilles Moretton is one of the most critical voices of the Davis Cup and its revamp which started three years ago when an ITF AGM vote gave the green light for changes to be made to its structure. The competition is now overseen by Kosmos who have committed a 25-year investment into the event. Kosmos was founded by former footballer Gerald Pique who recently retired from the sport.
In contrast to the old structure with there being home and away finals, this week eight teams are participating in a week-long knockout event which is being held in Malaga. Matches are now best-of-three instead of best-of-five.
“In the current configuration, we cannot move forward on the Davis Cup,” Tennis Majors quoted Moretton as telling L’Equipe. “Because there is no transparency at the ITF. We have very little information on the contract with Kosmos and on the conditions under which we could possibly get out of it.”
Earlier this year, the French official launched a stern attack on Kosmos by saying its founder ‘doesn’t care about tennis’ and ‘only wants to find a system that will bring him money.’
France are not one of the eight teams playing in this week’s finals after failing to qualify. The team missed out on a place after suffering losses to Germany and Australia in the group stages.
Moretton has also called for the ITF to maintain their focus solely on tennis after a recent unsuccessful attempt was made by the governing body to assume governance of padel. A somewhat controversial move which was even described by the International Padel Federation (FIP) as a ‘hostile takeover.’ The ITF, who said their move was prompted by requests from member federations, failed to get the required support in a vote that was conducted at their AGM last month. Inside The Games reported that 57.48% of members voted in favour but this was still below the ⅔ majority required.
“For me, and this is what I said in my intervention, the ITF should not consider padel as a spare tire and should focus on tennis, because the situation is far from extraordinary with the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup,” Moretton said. “The primary mission of the ITF is the promotion and development of tennis throughout the world. And I remember that the Davis Cup was a great tool for this promotion. (…) We gave in to the allure of money.”
Last month it was announced that a strategic alliance has been formed between the ITF, ATP and Kosmos for the first time in history. As a result, the Davis Cup finals and qualifier ties will be part of the ATP calendar from 2023, taking place in weeks five, 37 and 47.
