ITF reacts to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic's proposal
In an interview with BBC, Keilly Fairweather of the International Tennis Federation spoke about the ATP and Davis Cups possibly merging together as suggested by Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal earlier this week in Madrid. Fairweather said: "Obviously, we have to be sensitive to all different parties. But if you've got Novak saying that, that hopefully opens the door for a discussion with the ATP. From an ITF point of view, wouldn't it be fantastic to also have a joint men's and women's World Cup together? That would be sensational. It's an ambition. I think if you look at the business plan, the fourth year is really where we as partners are hoping to see this turn into a profit-making venture. There are areas in particular on the media rights side that have a huge amount of room for growth."
Fairweather also spoke about possibly seeing a combined men's and women's event: "Gerard [Pique] really wants to be innovative, he wants to really provide an incentive for the players to come and do something different, which is not week in, week out on tour events. The mixed team event has a huge amount of potential, and that's something that we want to capitalise on."
The Davis Cup Finals has attracted a lot of attention, both positive and negative. The schedule, too, has been criticised for the late-night finishes. The tournament format has also not impressed everyone. Meanwhile, it has emerged that these developmental changes are proposed to be made to the Fed Cup, too.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2rmqm6y
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