Davis Cup: Simply abolish the intermediate days!
The audience response to the Davis Cup matches on Wednesday was good. Which only benefited the home teams in one case.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Sep 13, 2023, 11:21 pm
You almost don't know what was more impressive on Wednesday during the Davis Cup intermediate round: the ecstasy that spread in Manchester in front of suddenly full stands, for example when Jack Draper won against Thanasi Kokkinakis. Or the awkward silence in Bologna when, after Lorenzo Sonego, Lorenzo Musetti also lost his singles against a much weaker ranked Canadian (both can be seen on servustv.com).
It wasn't particularly loud in Split either, where the Croatians lost to the USA despite Borna Gojo's success against Frances Tiafoe. And certainly not in Valencia, where the Spaniards, who started the race without Carlos Alcaraz, lost out against the Czech Republic. But in contrast to the first match day, when Stan Wawrinka rightly complained about the ghostly atmosphere in Manchester, at least the fans came into the hall for the home teams' first appearances.
Mistakes by Piqué and the ITF
What will be no different in the days that follow. It was already evident last year in Hamburg that a meeting between, let's say, Australia and Belgium on neutral ground is of no interest to anyone. On the other hand, if this encounter takes place at the upcoming World Cup in the USA, then one can assume that there will only be a few remaining tickets.
And therein lies one of the errors in thinking by Gerard Piqué and the ITF in the person of President David Haggerty: tennis does not enjoy the same popularity worldwide as football, and traveling to major tournaments is only worth the time and money required for a relatively small group of fans.
The only way to really always play in front of an attractive backdrop in the intermediate round that is currently taking place would be to simply cancel the days on which the home team is not playing. Which of course doesn't work. And so, as long as the existing format exists, you will have to live with matches that only really take place in front of the hard core of local tennis fans.