The Davis Cup will dominate the tennis agenda over the next few days, but the truth the interest in the matches will be barely touch the register interest on the radar of many tennis fans.
Teams around the world will be doing battle to claim a place in the Davis Cup finals in late November, with that showpiece occasion in Bologna set to be the final major moment of the men’s tennis year.
Newly crowned US Open champion Alexander Zverev, defeated finalist Ben Shelton from America, Spain’s Rafael Jodar, Britain’s Wimbledon semi-finalist Arthur Fery and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime were among the big names selected by their nations to compete in ties over the coming days.
Yet the gloss and glory that used to be associated with this tournament has been lost in recent years.
With leading players opting out playing in Davis Cup ties, golden moments from the tournament’s past appear to be from a different era in tennis as interest in this weekend’s team event will be muted at best.
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When the top players in a sport make it clear that they are no longer entirely interested in competing, it rapidly loses credibility and that is where we are with the Davis Cup.
Constant changes to the format in recent years have not helped the process and while the final tournament has served up some memorable moments, an event that used to be one of the most prestigious in all of tennis is no longer anywhere close to that level.
The ludicrous decision to stage multi-team events in cities around the world ensured numerous matches were played in large venues in front of virtually no crowds and while that farce has come to an end for now, the damage done to the fabric of the Davis Cup will be hard to repair.
Former world No 1 Andy Roddick summed it up on his podcast, as he looked back on his Davis Cup experiences with pride and made these damning comments.
“Some of my best moments in tennis came in the Davis Cup, but I hate what the format is now,” declared Roddick.
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“We lost against Spain with Rafael Nadal and (Carlos) Moya and co in ’04. There were 29,000 fans in a football stadium. That was an amazing atmosphere. That felt like Davis Cup.
“Now they are playing the Finals in Italy. They are playing in Bologna. It was like… it’s going to be in Spain from now on and now it’s not. It’s just really hard to follow.
“It just feels like it’s a brand now and the tournament doesn’t really matter.”
There may be a place for team tennis events and the star-studded Laver Cup that will be played in London next week will confirm as much, but the Davis Cup needs to rediscover its soul quickly before it becomes truly irrelevant on the tennis stage.
