Tennis icon Boris Becker is calling on the world association ITF to change the current Davis Cup format “as quickly as possible”. “People, whoever came up with these regulations has no idea about tennis! A change needs to be made quickly, perhaps even back to the old format with home and away games,” said the three-time Wimbledon winner in the Eurosport podcast “Das Gelbe vom Ball”.
“Now the question is what happens next: Are there the right people on the ITF board? Do they understand enough about tennis? Do they know that they have taken the soul of the Davis Cup with this system? All the top players agree on that,” Becker continued: “I hope you have a moment of clarity and decide to take up tennis!”
In 2018, the Kosmos investment group led by soccer star Gerard Pique secured the rights to the traditional team competition for three billion dollars and 25 years and, despite great criticism, fundamentally reformed it. In January, the ITF announced the early separation after less than five years of partnership. It is unclear what the Davis Cup will look like in the future.
Becker criticizes the Davis Cup format
Most recently, three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka from Switzerland criticized the format with a video that showed a yawningly empty hall before the duel between the Swiss and France.
Dietloff von Arnim, President of the German Tennis Federation (DTB), may be able to have greater influence in the future: On September 24th he will be running as the new president of the world association. “Regardless of the outcome of the ITF elections, the regulations must be changed again as quickly as possible,” demanded Becker.
Since the German team missed qualifying for the finals this year, they will face Bosnia in a classic away game on Saturday (12:00 p.m.) and Sunday (10:30 a.m. / ServusTV) in a duel for their place in the World Group -Herzegovina.