‘I don’t like it’: Icon’s sad demise slammed as new tennis powerhouses emerges
Tennis legends are furious about a change to an iconic event that favours the sport’s new powerhouse and spells trouble for Alex de Minaur.
An Australian Open champion has added his voice to the chorus of former players desperate to see the Davis Cup return to its previous format.
The iconic tennis teams event did away with home-and-away ties in 2019, with the World Group stage of the Davis Cup being held over one week in the same location at the end of the year.
Australia lost the 2022 and 2023 Davis Cup finals and lost to eventual champions Italy in last year’s semi-finals, with the Aussies saying the atmosphere in Malaga, Spain didn’t help their cause.
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“I felt I was playing an away tie, it was tough on Australia — we were playing in Spain but I thought we were in Italy,” said Thanasi Kokkinakis, echoing prior Australian complaints about the revamped Davis Cup format.
Under the new format, there are two rounds of qualifying ties before the remaining eight nations fight it out for the trophy in the Davis Cup Final 8.
2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, who won the Davis Cup with Sweden in 1998, would like to see the tournament return to its previous format where home-and-away ties were held over the course of the year.
“No, I don’t like it,” Johansson told news.com.au at the ASICS Summit at Kooyong in Melbourne, the site of many famous Davis Cup victories for Australia.
“I don’t like the format that it is now. I don’t like it all.
“That was the beauty about Davis Cup. It was to play home and away. I think we have lost that a little bit now.
“I really hope they can maybe consider going back to the old system again.
“It’s also good for the federations. If you look at a small federation like Sweden. If we had a home game against Australia like we have now, it’s a good financial thing for the federation as well.
“Not everyone is like the LTA (Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association), or FFT (French Tennis Federation) that have unlimited amount of money. So I do think they should go back to that old format.”
Johansson’s comments echo those from Australian tennis legends Lleyton Hewitt and Todd Woodbridge. “We are all on the same page,” the Swede said.
The Spanish city of Malaga has hosted the finals for the past three years. The last 16 finals have all been played in Europe — seven of those in Spain.
That will continue with Italy to host the Davis Cup Final 8 event from 2025 to 2027. This year’s edition will be held in Bologna.
It will be tough for any country to beat defending Davis Cup champions Italy on their home turf, especially if World No. 1 Jannik Sinner is playing.
Italy has emerged as a new tennis powerhouse, winning the past two Davis Cups and last year’s Billie Jean King Cup on the back of a breakout season from Jasmine Paolini.
Sweden won seven Davis Cups between 1975 and 1998 when grand slam winners Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg and Johansson were playing.
“I think it’s very important you have a leader of the pack,” Johansson said of the formula for Davis Cup success.
Italy’s top players are Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti, Matteo Berrettini, Flavio Cobolli and Lorenzo Sonego.
Mussetti is a rising star of tennis and has joined ASICS following a breakout season in 2024.
Australia has nine players in the top 100 but it could be difficult to knock off Italy given Sinner has beaten Alex de Minaur in each of their nine meetings.
They will face off on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, with Sinner heavily favoured to progress.
Asked which country is the strongest tennis nation, Johansson said: “Italy by far.
“They’ve won everything and they will continue to win everything for a while because they’re so strong.
“I do think Australia and the United States are strong.”
Sinner being from a major European market certainly isn’t doing himself or Italy any harm.
Tyre manufacturer Pirelli, which supplies the tyres for Formula One has joined the Australian Open as a major sponsor, with the logo appearing on the court at Melbourne Park.
“It is a timely move into the tennis world for a brand with Italian heritage given the current strength of Italian tennis,” said Cedric Cornelis, Tennis Australia’s Chief Commercial Officer “Jannik Sinner’s victory at Australian Open 2024 saw 100% year on year growth of AO broadcast coverage in Italy, putting it in the top five markets for the AO.”
Australia, beaten finalists in each of the last two years, are the second most successful team in the tournament’s history with 28 titles but last won it in 2003. Australia has not hosted the event since 2003.
Australia’s Davis Cup captain Hewitt expressed his frustration at the Davis Cup format after his team’s semifinal exit last year.
“Once again we’re a long way from Australia aren’t we?” said Hewitt.
“It will be nice when they take our bid seriously to host the finals, Australia will put on a bloody good event.
“I think there have been some mistakes made in the last few years.
“We’d really like to hopefully host the Finals as well. We’d like to get the opportunity to put a bid in for next year to host the Finals in Australia. I think we deserve that. I have been working extremely hard with the Federation to be able to give us that opportunity.
“It’s frustrating for these guys to always have to come all the way over to Europe every single year to play in the Finals. I know how special it was for me to win Davis Cup Finals in Australia. I think we all know how good a tradition our country has in this competition for well over a hundred years. We’ll see where that lands.”
Australia will take on Sweden in a Davis Cup qualifying tie on January 31 in Stockholm.
Nick Kyrgios has been named in Australia’s squad and could be in line to play his first Davis Cup tie in more than five years.
Kyrgios was included alongside Alex de Minaur, Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis.
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