BSP-11 Djokovic, Federer back new ATP Cup men’s team event

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Djokovic, Federer back new ATP Cup men’s team event

LONDON, Nov 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer have
backed a new men’s team competition just a day after the Serbian raised
concerns over the timing of the event, which will take place shortly after
the revamped Davis Cup.

The ATP Cup, announced by the ATP and Tennis Australia on Thursday during
the ATP Finals in London, will be played from 2020 across three Australian
cities over 10 days in the lead-up to the Australian Open, the first Grand
Slam of the year, which starts in January.

It will offer $15 million (13.25 million euros) in prize money and up to
750 ATP Rankings points to the winners.

“I like that it’s owned by ATP, by the players, and that we have ranking
points, and it’s going to be the best way to kickstart the season,” said
world number one Djokovic.

“More than 90 percent of the time we’re playing as individuals and we
don’t have too many team events.”

Federer was upbeat about the new event and said the Davis Cup would not
suffer.

“Clearly if the World Team Cup is going to be held, players will want to
play that first week of the year, so you would think it’s going to be
exciting,” the Swiss said after reaching the last four of the ATP Finals in
London.

“The Davis Cup has incredibly rich history. You would think the players
are going to play that. From that standpoint, I think there’s not that much
change, per se, or more tournaments on the calendar. It just happens that
there’s more team events, which I think the players are happy about.”

The comments from Djokovic, who is president of the ATP player council,
were in sharp contrast to views he voiced the previous day, when he said
having two similar team tournaments so close together would not be
sustainable, also expressing concerns over the length of the tennis season.

“I think in the next two years we’ll have both events happening in a very
similar format if not the same, six weeks apart,” he said.

“I honestly don’t think it’s good for the sport… It will happen that we
will have two average events.”

– Davis Cup fears –

A revamped Davis Cup tournament will take place from November 2019,
bringing together 18 nations in one place for a week at the end of the
season.

The Davis Cup is run by the ITF, the governing body of world tennis, while
the ATP, which runs the men’s Tour, will stage the ATP Cup.

Earlier this week, world number five Alexander Zverev said almost all the
top players would skip the Davis Cup.

“The Davis Cup has some serious issues to think about, I think,” he said.

“One of them is the dates. I think the dates are very important and I
think none of the top players will play, except Rafa (Rafael Nadal) because
it’s in Spain. I’m very, very sure that a lot of top players will not play.
We’ll see how it goes.”

The format of the ATP Cup will see nations split into six groups, with
eight teams emerging from the round-robin stage to compete in the knockout
phase.

There will be up to five players in each team, with ties comprising two
singles matches and one doubles match.

BSS/AFP/BZC/1930HRS