Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has taken control the transformation of the 2019 Davis Cup competition into the season-ending finals, which has been met with bitter criticism from some.
The Davis Cup now contested in a best-of-three rubbers format and are played on one day in Madrid. There are two singles followed by a doubles.
And Alexander Zverev had some pretty harsh criticism for the competition in one location for just a week. The German felt that the reforms were totally different from the Davis Cup he was used to.
“I don’t think the format is Davis Cup anymore. I think the Davis Cup is the most historic event that we have in tennis, which is over 100 years old, and the Davis Cup is the home and away ties.” Zverev said.
“Davis Cup is the whole atmosphere, the play over three days to play five sets and play those tough matches.That’s Davis Cup for me, and not playing it at one venue for one week and deciding it all.
“That’s not Davis Cup. Davis Cup is going to South America, Davis Cup is going to Australia like I did when it was the Davis Cup.
“I hope people realize that Davis Cup is more than just money and all that like they are offering us now. It’s history, and it’s more than just what’s on the table for the players now,” Zverev added.
In this year, the 18 teams are divided in six round-robin groups of three teams each. The six group winners plus the two second-placed teams with the best records based on percentage of matches won will qualify for the quarterfinals.
There are minimum requirements for the Davis Cup qualification – the capacity of the stadium must be at least 4,500 spectators. Here, the second and third courts accommodate 2,900 and 1,700 people. And even they were not filled on the first day.
