World No.1 Novak Djokovic has dropped a hint that the reformed Davis Cup needs some rework as he calls out for merger of ATP Cup and Davis Cup in order to ‘sustain’ on the tour.
The Davis Cup was revamped last year into a week-long finals in Madrid. The ATP Cup was also created with a very similar format just eight weeks after the Davis Cup. While Nadal led Spain to clinch the Davis Cup in November, Djokovic helped Serbia to win the inaugural ATP Cup in January.
There was a need to change the format: Novak Djokovic
The 32-year-old suggested that the Davis Cup needs some repair work as the new format has eliminated the classic home-and-away format. He explained that the new format is very similar. However, there are some differences particularly something that players don’t like.
“I don’t as well personally what I don’t like with Davis Cup is you don’t have a possibility to play at home any more,” Djokovic said during the press conference in Dubai.
However, at the same time, the Serbian feels that the ATP Cup was like playing at home for them because they had tremendous support in Australia.
There are some things that have to be different: Djokovic
“Again, it’s 10 years in Australia. It’s really difficult to call these competitions World Cups because is there no ‘world’ if you keep it in one place for 10 years,” he added.
He further explained that 99% of the nations will not have the possibility for many years to host a tie at home unless they play the qualification tie for the final seven days in Madrid.
“I understand there are changes, the need for change. Obviously, the older format had its advantages of playing home and away. There was also a lack of top players’ involvement in Davis Cup because of the scheduling weeks. I understand there was a need to change the format and I supported that,” he added.
Novak Djokovic feels that more nations should be able to host at least group stages. He suggested that he wouldn’t have 18 nations and would have the top four, final four, or elite eight.
Then have an earlier phase of the year group stages spread out, four teams for every group, hosted in five, six different countries. This will allow all these different countries to host these group stages with several teams.
“I just feel that would resonate more with me personally. I know I’ve been talking to a lot of players,” said Djokovic
Tough to expect that both Davis Cup and ATP Cup will survive: Djokovic
“It’s tough to expect that both Davis Cup and ATP Cup will survive six weeks apart. To be honest, I know it’s different because the ATP Cup kicks off the season
It is a different format of the Davis Cup which is the most historic team competition in our sport, the one that we value the most. Of course, we want to see Davis Cup living for a long time. I don’t see both of them,” the 17-time Grand Slam champion noted.
In Djokovic’s opinion, they have to merge. He explained that there have been talks about that even before the two competitions were changed into these formats that we have today. He knows there have been some extensive talks between ATP and ITF and the Kosmos group to create a solution for the future that would serve both competitions, hopefully creating one super cup.
Djokovic concluded: “I think that’s necessary because for me personally it will be very difficult to play every single year both competitions, so I’m going to have to choose. I think that’s going to be the case for many other players. I don’t think this is a sustainable model for our tennis.”
“Number One, Grand Slams and Olympic Gold” – Novak Djokovic Reveals Goals for 2020
Novak Djokovic absolutely breezed past Malek Jaziri in his first round match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. It took the Serb just an hour to get through 6-1, 6-2 against the Tunisian. Djokovic is playing at the event after a while, having missed it for the last three years.
Djokovic looked very good on the opening day, but struggled a bit with his balance at times. But it was still a very emphatic victory. Naturally, the Serb was in a good mood in the post match press conference.
Novak Djokovic and his goals
Among other things, Djokovic and the media touched upon various topics like his main objectives this season and his son Stefan’s favorite player.
Djokovic has had a great start to the tennis season. He has won every one of his matches in 2020, winning the ATP Cup and the Australian Open. And now, he has a good start to Dubai open as well.
We all know Novak has broken a great many records already, but he still has a few all-time records to break yet. Among them is the most number of singles titles. Currently, it is Jimmy Connors who holds the record with a 109 titles.
Incidentally, Roger Federer won his 100th title at the 2019 Dubai Open. He currently holds 103 titles, second only to Connors.
Novak has a total of 78 titles. Naturally, Novak was asked if that is another record he is targeting.
“Of course I’m aware of that, but that’s not one of the highest goals, to be honest. The highest goal for this particular season is the number one (ATP Rank), and Olympics and Grand Slams. And I think that every new season that I play Grand Slams will be right up there. So (most) titles won will come, hopefully, as a consequence a high performance.”
Djokovic is right about the total number of titles. He is still some ways away from challenging that particular record. If he thinks too much about it right from now, he will only put pressure on himself.
His main objective are Grand Slams, and the more he wins those, the closer he will come to Connor’s total titles record too.
