Davis Cup: Why does no one care?
The Davis Cup is the next sporting tournament at hand, yet it remains uninteresting and frankly unrelated to the rest of the tennis world to many fans. The Davis Cup was once the leading event when it came to international tennis tournaments. It is played
in knock out fashion, with tennis professionals from different countries competing against each other in teams.
However, in recent years, interest in the sport has waned, going from its status as one of the foremost international tennis events in the world to becoming little more than an afterthought. The 110 year old sporting event, once the most talked about tournament
in the tennis world, is now largely extraneous. There are several varied reasons for this, discussed in this feature article.
For starters, the matches during a tournament are always too far apart. One season for the tournament proceeds for several months and begins yet again shortly after it has ended. For example, the first Davis cup matches took place on the 5th of
March this year, whereas the competition will end in December.
Another reason the Davis Cup has become so commonplace is because it happens every single year. Hence, it is regarded as less of an event and more a series of ongoing matches. The matches are without anticipation, viewed as something that happens with only
a three month break in between. Tournaments like the World Cup and the Olympics remain of interest, because they happen once in four years. Tournaments like golf’s Ryder Cup only take place once in two years, and this makes the regularity of the Davis Cup
boring.
The Davis Cup is also, for many spectators, intensely boring and unnecessarily complicated, in part due to the World Group Playoffs, also known as the “consolation rounds” . In the hierarchy of this event, twenty national teams play in this competition.
Four of these teams play for the Davis Cup itself, in the main draw. The remaining 16 qualify to play in the World Group Playoffs, which determine whether those teams and countries will remain eligible to compete in next year’s tournaments. The system is fair
enough, but all of these matches are played at roughly the same time, overshadowing the main event with relegation matches; this steals the stage from the final four teams.
Last but not least, not enough top players participate in the Davis Cup. Only six of the top twenty participated in this year’s round over the weekend. This lack of participation is the result of extensive training for ATP finals, making it impossible for
players like Rafa and Federer to make the time to train for the Cup. Players may want to compete, but in a crowded and difficult schedule, it is the first tournament to be dropped from a priority list.
An effective solution to this lacklustre tournament would be to revamp the system, by holding matches for one week every two years, including the last eight teams. Qualifying rounds for the next year’s tournament should be held in a different country, hence
giving center stage to the finalists and bringing the best players from each country to the site of the actual Davis Cup, reigniting interest in the once-popular tournament.
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