The Davis Cup is one of the most illustrious tournaments in tennis, but its format change in 2018 has seen a far from positive reaction.
The Davis Cup Finals used to be played under a home and away format, with each match played under a best-of-five set format, but it was overhauled just under a decade ago.
Instead, the Davis Cup Finals are now played in the same location, with eight teams playing a knockout tournament to win the team tournament.
Many of the top players have criticised the change, including Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, and Carlos Alcaraz, and Roger Federer wasn’t happy with the change either.
While Federer did not really feature in the Davis Cup in the twilight of his career, he mourned the loss of the traditional format for the next generation of players.
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Speaking in 2018, Federer said: “Then for Davis Cup, I don’t know how the votes work, to be honest. But clearly the ITF has never historically involved the players, so that is saying — but the federations, yeah, we’re kind of there but we’re actually not there.
“They decided to do that. I’m still a bit surprised. I feel sad about not to have the Davis Cup as it used to be. Will never be the same. This is for the next generation, and I just hope that every penny will be paid of that mass of money that has been paid for the next generation, because we have seen a similar situation way back when with the tour and it set us back in a big way.
“I don’t want that to happen again. But, look, I’m all for innovation, and gotta give them a chance to some extent. It will be interesting to see how it’s going to work.”
Federer claimed the Davis Cup for the only time back in 2014.
He, along with Stan Wawrinka, starred as Switzerland defeated France in the finals of the tournament to win the event for the first time in the nation’s history.
Federer was beaten in straight sets by Gael Monfils in his opening match of the final, but he bounced back to beat Richard Gasquet to help his nation.
He and Wawrinka also beat Gasquet and Julien Benneteau in straight sets in their doubles match to help Switzerland beat France 3-1 in the four-match rubber.
Federer ended his career with an impressive 40-8 winning record in the Davis Cup in singles action, as well as a 12-10 winning rate in the doubles.
