Fed Cup’s format revamped for 2020
The Fed Cup’s existing format will be scrapped next year when a 12-nation finals week will be staged in Budapest in April, the International Tennis Federation confirmed on Thursday.
The move follows a revamp of the men’s Davis Cup that will culminate in an 18-nation event in Madrid in November.
At a news conference held at Queen’s Club, it was confirmed that Budapest’s Laszlo Papp Sports Arena would host the women’s team event until 2022.
There will be an US$18 million prize fund for the finals, with $12 million for players and the rest for national associations, the ITF said.
Four nations — this year’s finalists France and Australia, host Hungary and one wild card — will be exempted through to the finals, with the other eight coming through playoffs in February.
ITF president David Haggerty said it would create a “festival of tennis.”
The move is likely to divide opinion, as the Davis Cup changes did, with former world No. 1 Simona Halep saying this week she wouldn’t be interested in playing if the “home and away” ties were scrapped.
However, the fact the finals will be staged in April on clay should suit players’ calendars, with the European clay-court season about to get into full swing.
The move will also suit nations that have found themselves unable to break into the eight-nation World Group. Some 20 nations will now effectively be playing at the elite level of the competition every year.
Matches will consist of two singles and one doubles.
The 16 nations who will compete for places in the finals in February are Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the U.S.