Top players set to dodge doomed Davis Cup

Fresh doubt has been cast over the revamped Davis Cup by a high-level meeting which revealed the scope of player disinterest.

Novak Djokovic will not support the revised Davis Cup format

Fresh doubt has been cast on the legitimacy and existence of the revamped Davis Cup by a high-level meeting during the ATP World Tour Finals which ­revealed the scope of player ­indifference to the controversial new team competition.

The Australian understands world No 1 Novak Djokovic chaired the secret meeting during last month’s season-ending tournament at London’s O2 Arena. The International Tennis Federation’s abbreviated version of the 118-year-old Davis Cup competition was a hot topic of discussion.

Djokovic is president of the 10-member Association of Tennis Professionals Council and holds significant sway among players. He had already confirmed he would be absent from the revised cup tournament. Alongside him in London were Roger Federer and every leading player in singles and doubles, except the ­injured Rafael Nadal.

Sources revealed the meeting finished with none of the players guaranteeing their involvement in next year’s Cup finals, to be staged in an 18-team, round-robin format over one week in Madrid in late November. Without those players, all bets and contractual obligations of the Kosmos investment group could be off.

It’s understood the 25-year, $3 billion agreement between the ITF and the Gerard Pique-led Spanish consortium contains a clause demanding the involvement of the majority of the world’s top 20 players. The Australian was awaiting confirmation last night from ITF boss David Haggerty and Kosmos.

It’s understood the designated number is between 15 and 18. If less than the prescribed ration of players were available for the Cup finals, Kosmos could pull the pin and the new teams event could be over before it has begun.

The Cup finals have been slated for next year’s off-season, from November 18 to 24 at Madrid’s Caja Magica. The timing makes it next to impossible to have leading players involved as they’re desperate to hang up their racquets by then for a post-season rest.

They have only a few weeks to lay in a hammock before throwing themselves into training for the next Australian summer.

World No 4, ATP World Tour Finals champion and the future of the sport, Germany’s Alexander Zverev, an enthusiastic participant in the old Davis Cup, said he was a non-starter for the new one.

“Because in November I do not want to play tennis any more,” he said. “I think all the top guys will say the same thing. We have one and a half months off, and that’s the end of November and December. Making a tournament at the end of November, which is 10 days of playing and competing, it’s crazy. By the end of the year we’re all tired.”

Djokovic said: “The date of the Davis Cup is really bad, especially for the top players.”

Pique, the Spanish soccer player who founded Kosmos, earned Federer’s ire by pushing to stage the Davis Cup at the same time in September as Federer’s pet Laver Cup. Pique might have been guilty of a glaring oversight if he assumed players would flock to his new tournament. Having stayed quiet before the ITF voted for change with a two-thirds majority in August, Federer suggested at the US Open that a retired soccer player was not entitled to redesign tennis.

Federer said: “I have not spoken to Gerard Pique yet, but I admit that it’s a bit odd to see a footballer arrive and meddle in the tennis business.

“Be careful. The Davis Cup should not become the Pique Cup. I am globally for innovations. Our sport needs to think a little outside the box to innovate. But it’s a bit like in a part of Jenga — you have to be careful not to remove the room that will bring down the whole building.”

Pique has been dismissive of Federer. In October, he said: “For many he is the best of all time but in respect to the Davis Cup, he hasn’t played it very much.

“If he wants to play, that will be fantastic. We’ll open the door to him. If not, that’s fine. Because of his age he tends to prioritise emblematic tournaments. His people haven’t closed the door. Also, Switzerland may not qualify.”

The new Davis Cup will be under­whelming without the best players from each country. Australia’s Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt will take part with an aching heart. His top male player, Alex de Minaur, will follow him in.

Australia hosts Bosnia-Herzegovina in a bottom-rung qualification tie at Adelaide’s Memorial Drive from February 1.

When the ITF handed out two wildcards for next year’s finals, Australia were overlooked for Great Britain and Argentina.

Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Zverev are the top four players on the world rankings. Only Nadal has said he would play the Davis Cup finals. And yet the Spaniard is routinely unavailable for any tournament at the end of the year. He has told Pique he will play if he’s not injured.

Hewitt says the new Davis Cup is a cash-grab by the ITF.

Croatia defeated France in this year’s traditional final. French captain Yannick Noah called the new competition “the end”. He was due to be replaced next year by Amelie Mauresmo. She’s rejected the job to privately coach French No 1 Lucas Pouille.

Pouille said after this year’s Cup final: “This was my last Davis Cup game. I will not play the one in the new format and I will not change my mind.”