Novak Djokovic supports the women's version of the ATP Cup
The preliminary round of the ATP Cup is just passé, there are already initial discussions among players about how it could go on with the team competitions and whether there should be something similar for the women. Novak Djokovic is now part of this.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Jan 09, 2020, 07:18 pm
Novak Djokovic currently has every reason to be happy: won all three games with his Serbs, no set loss in individual games and a confident rise to the quarterfinals is the strong record after the preliminary round. The 32-year-old also showed this in an interview right after the last group game against Chile: "I really enjoy the event." Djokovic particularly likes the fact that the Serbian team is going to another city for the quarter-finals: "This trip Going through different places in Australia with the team feels a bit like a World Cup. I've never seen anything like it before. ”
While the Davis Cup has a counterpart on the women's level with the Fed Cup, there is nothing comparable to the ATP Cup on the part of the WTA. Former US Open winner Sam Stosur brought in the idea of holding a WTA Cup at the same time as the ATP Cup. At the Grand Slam in Wimbledon, she had already spoken to the CEO of Tennis Australia about this possibility, but it was apparently not possible to hold it.
Ladies in Brisbane only on the outer courts
Instead of a team event, individual tournaments are currently taking place in Brisbane and Auckland. Brisbane also hosted the two groups of Serbia and Germany at the same time. There were certainly complications: All women's games on the first three days took place outside the Center Courts. And this despite the fact that the field of top stars is full of people. With Ashleigh Barty, Karolina Pliskova and Naomi Osaka, three of the four best players in the world rankings are even starting. Samantha Stosur also sees a problem in this: "It is a bit rough that there will be no women's games on Center Court until Tuesday."
Novak Djokovic also sees a team event for the women as an obvious solution: “I don't know the exact numbers and I don't know how it would affect their schedule, but it makes sense: Because of the tournaments in Brisbane and Auckland, most of the top players are already in Australia anyway, ”says the Serb.
Merger of ATP and Davis Cup best solution?
But the 32-year-old also looks upwards for the men: "I think it would be a better solution to have a Super Cup for us men." He agrees with the Canadian Denis Shapovalov , who thought it was strange, "so briefly to play almost the same tournament again after the Davis Cup. ”Djokovic, President of the ATP Players' Council, also mentioned in the interview a major point of criticism from the Davis Cup with which players came to him: namely that there were no home games there would be more. As a solution, Djokovic could imagine preliminary rounds in many different countries, which will then be brought together in one place in the quarterfinals.
But that's all a dream of the future, for Djokovic the focus will clearly be on the quarter-final duel with Canada on Friday. By the way, Novak Djokovic is dealing with Denis Shapovalov. Two players who have a very similar opinion on how to proceed with the team events.