'GET OVER IT TODD'

Woodbridge shocked at 'bomb' proposal to revamp Davis Cup

By Luke Costin

27 February 2018 — 8:40pm

( COURTESY OF THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD )

Australian Davis Cup great Todd Woodbridge has accused the International Tennis Federation (ITF) of ‘‘throwing a bomb’’ into the tennis landscape with its plan to transform the historic competition.

The season-long Davis Cup competition is set to become a one-week, 18-nation World Cup-style event from as early as 2019 under a proposal endorsed by the ITF board and announced on Monday.

It will still crown a Davis Cup champion, but from a new event, named the World Cup of Tennis Finals, to be played in one location at the end of each season. Woodbridge, who played in Australia’s 1999 and 2003 Davis Cup triumphs and later coached the team, wondered whether officials had fully considered the impact on the 118-year-old competition.

The move would lessen the load on the game’s top players and hopefully ensure most played Davis Cup. But Woodbridge, a Tennis Australia ambassador, questioned the consultation process.

‘‘The ITF has thrown this bomb into the tennis landscape,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t think they’ve gone back to the players and said ‘this is what we’re doing’. I’m at the coalface and this is the first time I’ve heard about it.’’

The proposal will be submitted for approval at the ITF’s annual meeting in Orlando in August and it includes a 25-year partnership, worth $3.8billion, with investment group Kosmos to fund it.

The federation says ‘‘several world-class cities’’ have expressed interest in hosting the event. The 16 World Group nations will automatically qualify for the finals, with a further two nations to be selected.

It will feature a play-off round that will allow eight nations to qualify for the next year’s finals, while the current zone group competition will continue beneath that.

THAT'S PART OF THE ARTICLE FROM YESTERDAY'S SYDNEY MORNING HERALD.

COMMENT FROM GT

And the problem Todd is what exactly ?

The ITF have come up with a REAL FORMAT at last to fix the Davis Cup farce that sees guys like Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka continually leave Switzerland to it's lesser players to battle out Davis Cup ties because they can't be bothered playing it.

If the Davis Cup is played in 2019 in a season ending event over a week or so it will be the biggest thing that has ever hit tennis in 50 years, it will be sensational. Imagine EVERY Country putting in it's BEST TEAM and not just a Mickey Mouse team simply to make up the numbers ?

This idea rocks.

GET OVER IT TODD.

FAST 4 Tennis should be knocked off the tennis calendar altogether because it's a pile of crap. Embrace this new Davis Cup idea Toddy, it has merit.

Regards Glenn