Davis Cup action awaits right around the corner, as the ATP circuit comes down from the highs of the hard-court season in its first quarter. However, surrounding the headiness of the tournament, there’s also a certain flux in its longstanding continuity, with changes to its format looking imminent in the course of the following months.
What will the proposed modifications be about?
The International Tennis Federation set the ball rolling for its intended reworking of the event format back in March 2017. The format will be tweaked to two days instead of the customary three-day weekend schedule, with the match length being shortened to best-of-three from the now practiced best-of-five schedule.
David Haggerty, the President of the ITF, believes that this would help the Davis Cup retain its interest among the fans, even as it would help the tournament from getting its due share of attention from the global broadcasters.
“I think the main drivers of our strategy are to increase top player participation and enhance the experience for the fans, the spectators and the broadcasters,” he stated, before going to add, “Two five-set matches in one day can be very exciting, but it can also be very long. You lose TV audiences, so we think the quality of the two-out-of-three-set matches will far outweigh what people feel they may not be getting.”
The Indian angle
From the Indian standpoint, given that tennis fans in the country have always had a soft corner for the Davis Cup courtesy of the team’s antecedents in the event, understanding the scope of the proposed alterations becomes all the more necessary. For, while the Indian Davis Cup contingent has had to brace itself with comparatively lower ranked players as compared to several of their opponents, none of the Indian players have lacked heart.
Somdev Devvarman has had been one such player for India, who in the seven years of his Davis Cup career came up with several memorable performances. One of which was in the 2014 World Group Play-off against Serbia, in the reverse singles rubber against Dusan Lajovic.
Trailing Lajovic by two-sets-to-one, with Serbia leading 2-1 in the tie, Devvarman’s five-set heroics brought the country to their (then) first World Group berth in two years. And, while Serbia did reclaim their place back in the World Group eventually, winning the tie 3-2 after Filip Krajinovic defeated Yuki Bhambri in the fifth rubber, that momentous match has been relived countless times by Indian fans.
Understanding player perspectives
It’s not surprising then that Devvarman considers playing in the Davis Cup as one of the highest points of his career. In his conversation with Scroll.in, the former Indian No 1 said, “Personally speaking, it was one of the most special events of the year for me always. We [India] didn’t really get to play as much in the really huge stage and when you play for the country, you really felt it was something special, something nice. You had a chance to represent your country and that’s why the Davis Cup is always so special.”
According to the 32-year-old, this is also the reason why players are keen to play the tournament, irrespective of the recent paltriness in the bigger names giving it a miss. “I can personally tell you that people take a lot of pride in the Davis Cup. You know, a lot of players’ goal is to actually go and do well in the Davis Cup,” Devvarman added.
“In the last few years, Rafa [Nadal] has won the Davis Cup and he was the first of the big guys to actually go and do that. And then, Roger Federer pulled in a really good run as well. [Andy] Murray did it and [Novak] Djokovic did it. The big names in the game, it really means a lot to them to actually go and play for the team, so there’s definitely a lot of value to the Davis Cup.”
At the same time, Devvarman isn’t unaware of the need to alter the tournament to meet the ever-changing demands of its audiences.
“I personally [feel] there’s really a need to consider what the fans like at this point,” Devvarman told Scroll.in. “Because, the Davis Cup has a really, really high fan following and people really enjoy watching it. So, I think, generally asking the fans what they think is a good place to look at. Because, they are the ones who make the Davis Cup a special tournament. I think that’s one way to look at it.”
It then remains to be seen whether the ITF in its Annual General Meeting August 2017 takes the fans’ perspective into account. Even if it means acknowledging that the audiences may not be acceptable of the drafted changes, in entirety.
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