Davis Cup: Comment: The Davis Cup is dead – long live the money

So the decision has been made. David Haggerty and his team have prevailed – the Davis Cup will be completely reformed from 2019. The oldest team competition in tennis is dead. That’s a pity – a comment.

It was an exciting race before the decision about the future of the Davis Cup. Some associations were still unsure whether they should vote for or against the planned reform when they arrived in Orlando. In the end, ITF boss David Haggerty and supporter Gerard Pique prevailed with their plans.

Imagine Roger Federer striving to restructure the World Cup along the lines of the Spaniard. But it is unimaginable that the Swiss man should put such abstruse proposals on the table. Especially if he has no insight into the fan scene or the history of the competition. Unfortunately, this seems to work the other way around.

Just over 71 percent finally voted for a restructuring of the team competition. From now on, at the end of November, a tournament with 18 teams will be held in an undefined location (Lille and Madrid are the only candidates) on the same surface.

Everything that made the Davis Cup so special is now being taken away from him: the choice of the ground, the linesmen from his own country and last but not least the heated atmosphere. You had to put all that away as a player – but that’s exactly what made the competition.

It was obvious that the traditional Davis Cup needed reform. But it would not have been necessary to destroy it in this way. The crowds were still excellent and there were always some top players who competed for their country despite the enormous strains. Alexander Zverev or Rafael Nadal, who has already agreed to play in the semi-final against France and will probably not take part in the Laver Cup instead.

Novak Djokovic’s success with Serbia in 2010 marked the start of an unbelievable season a year later. Roger Federer even gave up the ATP World Tour Final against Novak Djokovic for the Davis Cup Final 2014. It was rare to see Andy Murray so emotionally when he and his British teammates were allowed to raise the “ugliest salad bowl in the world”.

Almost every top player of the past and present once had the pleasure of celebrating the Davis Cup triumph. Without this success in the CV, the career – regardless of how successful the player otherwise acted – had a little flaw.

The Davis Cup is not reformed by Haggerty and Co. but killed. The result is a new competition that has nothing in common with the old format. Especially paradoxical is that only one month later the ATP World Team Cup will take place in Australia. Events that couldn’t be more similar to each other and also get a lot of competition from the Laver Cup.

It is understandable for tennis fans that the majority of smaller associations from Africa were on the side of the ITF. With the exception of a few additional euros in the association’s coffers, nothing will change for them. But the fact that major Davis Cup nations such as France and Spain voted for this reform leaves the enthusiastic observer stunned. Haggerty was also backed by countries such as Argentina and Belgium, who discovered their love of tennis only after their successes in the Davis Cup.

To be fair, some top players found the reform good. Djokovic, Nadal and Cilic are some of the most prominent names on this list. Whether the stars will take part in the “new Davis Cup” adventure after an extremely exhausting season is nevertheless highly doubtful.

However, most of the actors were against the introduction of the new plans. Both active players and former players were strictly against the reform and expressed their disappointment after the decision in the social media. The Frenchman Lucas Pouille will never compete for France again after this decision, Pat Cash spoke of a “sad day for tennis” and Alexander Antonitsch saw an “ill-considered reform”.

Antonitsch was allowed to experience the great time of the Davis Cup first hand. None of this is the case with the author of these lines. He was born at a time when the great tennis euphoria of yesteryear no longer prevailed in Austria.

Nevertheless, the most unforgettable memories as a tennis spectator are closely linked to the oldest team competition in white sport. The final in Prague in 2012 and the play-off duel between Spain and Ukraine a year later are among the absolute highlights as a fan, despite several visits to the French Open in Paris or Wimbledon.

Unfortunately, this will no longer be the case in the future. The incomparable emotions, the ups and downs in the stands and questionable referee decisions – all that is omitted.

What remains is an event that is sold by the ITF as the new Davis Cup and in reality has nothing to do with this great competition. Haggerty and his team have taken a great deal of their soul from tennis. The Davis Cup is dead – long live the money.