Written by Richard Pagliaro | @Itenisi_Manje | Monday, November 25, 2024
Photo credit: ITF Facebook
The Davis Cup will once again start one venerable tradition, but it has no plans to go far.
The 2025 Davis Cup format will return to the regular home and away format in September from the current four-team event played last September.
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However, International Tennis Federation President David Haggerty said there are no plans for the Davis Cup to resume best-of-five sets.
Speaking to the media in Malaga, Spain before Italy beat the Netherlands in the Davis Cup final yesterday, Haggerty said there are two main reasons why the Davis Cup will continue to feature best-of-three sets:
1. Many players and captains have asked for best-of-three sets, especially at the end of a long and difficult season. 2. Best-of-three sets are as binding as best-of-five sets, says the ITF President.
“I think we talked to the players and the captain. That’s why we are the best of the three,” said Haggerty to the media in Malaga. “We think it makes sense. Especially in the finals when you play games sometimes, Italy will play today, they played yesterday. That’s why we think the best of three sets is right.
“I’ve never been there, and I don’t think there’s anyone here who can tell me a game that didn’t force me into the Billie Jean King Cup or the Davis Cup, and we had a best-of-three game for about four hours. I think from the fans’ point of view, we want to make sure they have a fun experience with the players and their lives.”
Haggerty said the return to home-and-home ties next September, which returns to the important Davis Cup schedule, is a direct result of the response from players and captains.
“When it comes down to it, you know, we look at what else we could have done, we listened to the players, we listened to the nations,” said Haggerty. “One of the things we’ve always wanted to do is balance the culture of the Davis Cup with the innovation of the Final 8.
“So as you know, next year the September round, which already has four group stages, will be the stage to enter home and abroad. or in those countries that have to go, so it gives us what we feel is the best balance of competition. “
