One of tennis’ oldest tournaments, the Davis Cup, has seen turbulent times in the recent past. Ever since its format was revamped in 2018 with soccer icon Gerard Pique’s investment company ‘Kosmos’ taking control of the event, the tournament has received a lot of flak. The updated format hasn’t gone down well with the tennis community. Due to the updated format, one team will play on home soil while three others in the group will play on foreign soil in the Davis Cup finals. As a result, the close friend of Roger Federer, Boris Becker was joined by German star Alexander Zverev in slamming Davis Cup organizers.

Due to this format, the popularity of the once-storied tournament has seemed to wane. Ticket sales during the Davis Cup finals have gone down significantly. The duo had a few choice words to say about the unfortunate turn of events.

Zverev backs the stance of a close friend of Roger Federer

After the US Open, the group stage of the Davis Cup finals saw 16 teams battle it out to enter the quarterfinals. However, only four of these teams got to play on home soil during this stage of the tournament. Viewership and ticket sales took a hit. As a result, it invited strong criticism from tennis legend Boris Becker. During an interview, the 55-year-old declared that whoever had come up with such regulations knew hardly anything about tennis. He advocated for a change to be made quickly – possibly to the old format with home and away games.

Zverev was full of support for his compatriot. He shared Becker’s views via a story on Instagram and wrote, “Absolutely 100% correct!! The Davis Cup is one of the oldest competitions in the world that money should never have bought. Back to the real Davis Cup And back to tennis history.”

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Of late, there has been a greater dissatisfaction among players, too, surrounding the Davis Cup format. Even the former World Number 1, Andy Murray lashed out at the organizers of the iconic tournament for processing the changes to the tournament.

What did Andy Murray say?

Despite receiving strong protests from players and fans, Gerard Pique’s company still went ahead with the format change, the result of which can be seen now with empty stands in Davis Cup matches. The British legend recalled the time when discussions on Davis Cup reformatting were underway.

Talking about it, he said, “I was on the ATP player council when the initial discussions were had about this format. Not one person on the council supported it.” 

What do you think about the reforms executed in the Davis Cup match structures by Pique’s company? Let us know your views in the comments below.

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