Time to return to the old Davis Cup format

Italy celebrate back-to-back Davis Cup titles (Getty/Clive Brunskill)

The Davis Cup has long been a vexed topic amongst tennis fans. After Switzerland's 2014 triumph in the competition, the 'Big Three' were rarely seen, leading to a push for change to make the event more manageable for players amidst an increasingly demanding tennis season.

This led to a format change, removing home and away ties in the World Group and adopting a neutral round-robin format, much to the consternation of many leading figures in tennis, including Lleyton Hewitt and Nicolas Mahut. After many years (and a largely lukewarm reception to the neutral format), there has been some reversion back to the home and away ties in the World Group, with the first set taking place last month. This included a thrilling tie between Australia and Belgium in Sydney, with the Belgians upsetting the Aussies in front of a packed Ken Rosewall Arena.

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It was particularly striking how effusive Belgian players were about the return to the home and away format, given that they had to travel to Australia in the middle of the Asian and European season for a two day tie. Raphael Collignon, who scored a huge win over Alex de Minaur, spoke about how much effort it took to fly to Australia after the US Open before heading back to Europe, but reinforced how important it was for him to play in the home-and-away format.

"Yeah, it was a tough 15 days because I lost on the Friday in New York and took a flight [to Europe] on Saturday and left for Australia on Thursday, so it was like three days at home," he said. "But you don't think about this when you play with your country, you just go and take your heart out for the country. This format is so good, to go to Australia, and when you see the stadium that is packed, the crowd that is supporting, a lot of people are in the stands, I think it's the best format in Davis Cup, and I think it's great to play in this kind of atmosphere."

"It's a dream come true, so every chance I get, I'll be there and fight for the colours," added doubles specialist Joran Vliegen. "You see the crowd this weekend. It's been amazing, great venue, a lot of people showing up, that's what Davis Cup was all about, what the home and away ties, and I think we haven't been able to experience that in the last couple of years. I think this is a step in a good direction."

Belgian captain Steve Darcis also spoke glowingly about the return to the old format, echoing the sentiments of Lleyton Hewitt over the years when speaking about his love for the competition.

"I was not happy about the move [to a group format] a few years ago, but now that they put home and away ties back, I think it's nice for the country, for the players to play in front of the home crowd. There were 10,000 people here, and it's amazing because two, three years ago [in the neutral format], there were 100 people in the stadium," he said.

"It's amazing and I love to be here because when you play here, you have so many people, a very good atmosphere and the guys want to play in a big stadium. I think it's good for tennis."

It was not just in Australia that the crowds were loud, passionate and full. In the US, Delray Beach was lit up for the blockbuster clash between Czechia and the USA, which went down to a decisive rubber. In Greece, a packed crowd in Athens watched Stefanos Tsitsipas take on João Fonseca while in Peru, a boisterous audience saw the home side upset Portugal in a thrilling encounter. The latter two nations have not traditionally hosted events, but the Davis Cup gave them an opportunity to shine.

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But this isn't a complete reversion back to the old format. Best of five is gone, likely never to return, and the Final 8 teams still head to Italy for a round-robin finals format. Without Jannik Sinner playing, it is likely that the finals will feel quite sterile again compared to the wonderful atmospheres around the world in September. For all the progress that has been made, there is still a lot more to go.

This goes to a larger point around the purpose of the changes. The move to a round-robin format was to ensure that the biggest stars participate, as they do not have to deal with travel and surface changes. However, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic have all played sporadically over the last few years, showing that the round-robin format has not actually achieved its supposed greatest selling point.

Tony Godsick, manager of Roger Federer and Laver Cup chairman, actually spoke similarly in a recent press conference at the Laver Cup, advocating for a return to the old format of Davis Cup saying that the current format had not really achieved its purpose.

"You know, the Davis Cup has moved around. I think it's changed, like, three times its format in the seven editions that we've had. That's a lot of change, when I'm not sure it actually should have changed," he stated.

"I have a whole theory that, you know, Davis Cup was actually pretty good the way it was. You had some major global superstars that dominated the game for a very long period of time, and each of them prioritised the Davis Cup at different times. Then they wanted to stay out on tour a lot longer. They maybe didn't play as much, because they wanted to extend their careers, and it worked.

"Novak is still playing today. Rafa just retired last year. Roger went to almost 40. So it worked, their strategy. But the fact that they were taking up so much oxygen of success for such a long period of time, people are like, 'Oh, all the top players aren't playing the Davis Cup, we've got to change it'."

"Well, that was those three players. I think now you've got -- okay, you have two other guys that are coming in to do well, but you have more parity, a little bit more parity now. Maybe not in the Slams, but you have young stars that are emerging. I kind of feel like if you just kind of went back and did the home and away stuff, two-out-of-three sets maybe until you get to the finals, and you kept it how it was, it might work."

It seems the smart commercial decision is no longer a round-robin format. Big stars like Sinner and Carlos have shown that they will skip Davis Cup when they require rest regardless of format and for everyone else, who does not quite have the star pull of those two at the top of the sport, the sell of the Davis Cup likely exceeds the sell of any one player.

And if broadcasters like Netflix are looking for a way to enter the sporting market, it would seem that home and away ties in exotic and unique locations around the globe would be the best way to package an entertaining product. It has worked for other sports, why not for tennis?

Ultimately, the round-robin experiment was tried, but it didn't work. It is time to return to what made the Davis Cup so special.

One thing is for sure, the next time the Davis Cup is in Australia, I will certainly be there.

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