Pouille’s teammates unhappy with new Davis Cup plans
dubai — Lucas Pouille, who wasn’t impressed with the International Tennis Federation’s plans to change the Davis Cup format, revealed that his teammates in the French team were also not happy with the federations plans.
The ITF plans to make the Davis Cup, the most prestigious team competition in the sport, a season-ending affair featuring 18 countries.
If the ITF goes ahead with the plan, the World Cup of Tennis Finals, which will crown the Davis Cup champions, according to a press release on the ITF website, will be played every November in one city. And that’s one of the reasons why Pouille — the hero of France’s Davis Cup triumph last year — is not happy with ITF’s plans.
After having slammed the ITF pans in Dubai on Tuesday, Pouille said his French teammates also felt it would be bad for the famous tournament.
“They think the same as me. I did not say it was not good for tennis, I just said it’s not good for Davis Cup. It’s a particular competition. I think we just need to find another way to make it better,” the world number 15 told reporters at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
“I know it’s not the perfect way right now, but I definitely don’t think it’s going to be good with what they propose,” he added.
Pouille said staging the event in a ‘neutral’ city would kill the charm of the Davis Cup.
“As it is now, you can play home or you can play in the other country. I mean, if we had played the France-Belgium final last year in Singapore, there would have been maybe 4,000 people. In France, it was 27,000. It’s definitely different,” said Pouille who grew up idolising Roger Federer.
“Roger and Rafa (Nadal) are not going to play forever. We don’t have to think only about them. They’re not going to stay here for the next 15 years. I’m not sure this is the right way to go.”
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com