Novak Djokovic has urged the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to consult more with players regarding the future of the Davis Cup after saying he believes improvements can be made to the event.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion made his remarks about the competition ahead of Serbia’s quarter-final clash with Great Britain on Thursday. This week the eight teams are participating in a knockout competition in Malaga for this year’s title. Those who qualified had to come through the group stages which were held in four cities across Europe with the top two of each group progressing.
Djokovic’s team hasn’t played a tie in their home country since September 2018 which was against India which took place without the tennis star. Something the world No.1 believes is a flaw in the system that he believes needs to be improved for the future.
“I feel that the best format will be somewhere in between the old one and the new one but I don’t think that this is best for the nations participating in the World Group,” said Djokovic.
“The fact that we, as a team, have not played in Serbia for many years is not great because we don’t give an opportunity to people in Serbia to watch us play, especially young people and young tennis players.’
“It also allows (our) Federation to benefit in different ways from that home tie. So hopefully that can be back in some way.”
Although Serbia’s wait for hosting a Davis Cup tie could end soon. The ITF has written to the Serbian Tennis Federation twice to see if they are interested in staging one of the group-stage events next September, but they have yet to respond. They also previously contacted Djokovic via the Serbian Tennis Federation after the group-stage event in Valencia with a view to arranging a meeting in Malaga.
The Davis Cup has gone through numerous changes in recent years which was triggered by a deal with investment company Kosmos to revamp the competition. However, Kosmos’ pledge to invest in the event for 25 years didn’t even last five years after the ITF terminated its contract at the start of 2023.
As for the future, Djokovic says that there should be no ‘behind the doors’ discussions on what to do with the team event without the ITF speaking with the players and their federations. However, the modern format was voted in by a 72% majority of the ITF’s member nations at the ITF AGM in 2018. The ITF is one of seven governing bodies operating in tennis. The others are the ATP, WTA and each of the four Grand Slam tournaments.
“I don’t have in my mind personally a perfect format. I think it’s important to put it out on the table and discuss it, but not discuss it behind closed doors. Discuss with players and discuss with Davis Cup teams,” he continued.
“I think everyone should have their say because so far no one has been really communicating with us from ITF. So that’s something I feel like should change because obviously we also are a very integral part of this competition. I feel like we can give some valuable information and feedback on what we think is the right way.’
“We will have probably a difference of opinions but I think the home-and-away ties is something the Davis Cup historically has been very famous for.”
Another issue brought up surrounds the location of the finals. Since the competition was revamped in 2019, all of the final ties have been held in Spain despite the ITF’s vow to move the competition around the world.
“Giving one nation to host every year the Last 8 for now three, four years in a row, actually five, Madrid, Malaga, is too much, in my opinion.” Djokovic states.
“It has to travel. This is a competition that is played globally. I feel like the Davis Cup Finals, at least if you’re going to keep it at Final 4, Final 8, should travel every year. It shouldn’t stay in one place more than a year.”
