Davis Cup: Five-man teams, two days – ITF concludes (partial) reform

The Davis Cup is to be restructured as early as 2018.The biggest reforms concern world zones 1 and 2.But there are also changes for the teams on the top floor.

Every now and then something new from the Davis Cup, but the ITF didn’t dare to take the big lead yet.The changes that have now been decided primarily concern the world of zones 1 and 2, and for the Davis Cup teams in the World Group there is one thing above all else that will change: starting next year, the captains will be able to appoint a fifth player to the teams, which should please the double specialists in particular.

The biggest movements, however, are for example for the Austrian selection, which is aiming for the next attempt to return to the top floor next year at home against Belarus.

For the World Group, and thus for the German team that is due to start 2018 in Australia, also relevant:

David Haggerty, President of the ITF, hopes that the changes will primarily encourage more top players to compete in the world’s most traditional tennis team competition.

However, there are still some critical voices, even from Germany: Dirk Hordorff, vice-president of the German Tennis Association (Deutscher Tennis Bundes), said the changes do not go far enough, his association had demanded that the restructuring be implemented in the world group as well.

Günter Bresnik, former Davis Cup captain of Austria and presently coach of Dominic Thiem, however, confesses to the tradition, he fears that the competition will be put to death.

Thomas Schweda, Managing Director of the Austrian Tennis Association, sees above all organisational problems:”I think the reforms and the ideas are actually good, but the ITF has presented us with a fait accompli”, says Schweda.Especially in Austria it is difficult to find a suitable hall – and then one more day of spectator revenue is lost.At constant costs.