Sad Federer hopes new Davis Cup lives up to promises

While unsure of the wisdom of this week's sweeping David Cup reform, Roger Federer has called on tennis officials to make good on promises regarding the new-look competition.

"I feel sad about it, you know, not to have the Davis Cup as it used to be. It will never be the same for the next generation," the 20-time Grand Slam winner said on Saturday at the Cincinnati Masters.

"I just hope that every penny of that mass of money will be paid for the next generation," Federer said.

Kosmos, an investment group led by Barcelona football star Gerard Pique with Japanese and Chinese support, will spend $3 billion over 25 years on the new event, which will do away with four rounds at home and away venues around the world throughout the year, culminating with the final between the last two teams standing.

Instead there will be a one-week shoot-out among 18 nations, to be played in November at rotating venues.

With nearly two decades in the game, the 37-year-old Federer has a long memory back to another mega-deal gone wrong which could have seriously damaged the ATP Tour.

"We've seen a similar situation way back when with the ATP Tour and it set us back in a big way," he said. "I don't want that to happen again."

That incident in 2000 stemmed from the bankruptcy of the Swiss ISL promotion firm that had promised to pay the Tour $1.2 billion over a decade for the rights to the elite Masters events.

ISL suddenly went bust and the deal never came to fruition, although the ATP recovered nicely to its current dominating state in the men's game.

Federer won the Davis Cup with Switzerland over France in 2014 and played almost uninterruptedly from his 1999 debut until age 34 in 2015.

"Clearly the ITF has never historically involved the players," he said of the decision. "The solution is definitely flawed in some ways.

"I'm all for innovation, and got to give them a chance to some extent. It will be interesting to see how it's going to work."

Date: 18 August 2018, Source: AFP