Thursday 16 August 2018 22:06, UK
The Davis Cup will be decided by a season-ending, 18-team tournament after radical overhauls to the 118-year competition were passed. Sky Sports analyst and former British No 1 Greg Rusedski is not convinced by the new format...
I don't like it - it's the wrong concept. Yes it is a big investment - $3bn over 25 years. It is good that they are putting the money into it. There needs to be changes to the Davis Cup.
I have no problem with having best-of-three set matches but you are going to have this group [of 18 nations] at the end of the year where they all play.
Do players want to play at the end of the season after the ATP Finals? Players are tired and then you are going to put the Davis Cup at the end of that. It's still confusing but what I see so far I am not overly positive about.
The reason they are trying to make all these changes is because the top guys said 'we don't want to play - it doesn't fit into our schedule'.
Even when Great Britain won the Davis Cup in 2015, Andy Murray didn't beat one top-10 player to hold the trophy aloft, even though he won 11 live rubbers, finishing with a spotless record, needed to win the ties.
The proof will be in pudding if we get Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer playing.
The top guys are looking at it and saying 'it is only one week, I can still play what was the Davis Cup but it isn't really the Davis Cup'.
You would have to win all those group matches to come through and qualify for the top-18 nations.
The history of the Davis Cup is very traditional and especially in Australia where they have won so many of the editions. I think we are losing something.
I accept there needs to be less tennis. The best-of-three set format is something I don't mind. Keep the best-of-five set matches in the doubles.
Make the singles best of three and maybe the bigger names would play because it would only be a Friday and Sunday. That would have been a great change.
There needed to be tweaks but this is an extreme tweak by the sounds of it and that's the problem.
Rafa always finishes after the O2 and says he is exhausted, needs time off. So is he, along with Djokovic and Federer, going to play the Davis Cup straight away?
This is going to be a week-long tournament where if they win the event of 18 they are going to have to play five matches.
When we look at football, everybody wants to win the World Cup. Every nation puts in their best players.
Will they get all the best players on the planet to play? If they do then I am wrong and I will put my hands up. I don't believe they are going to get every single big-name player. Their schedule is more important than appearance money.
We have the US hardcourts covered from all angles via our website skysports.com/tennis. On the move? Head to our app for mobile devices and iPad, or follow our Twitter account @SkySportsTennis to join in the conversation.
Never miss the big kick-off or have to deal with interrupted games or low-quality streams with a NOW TV Sky Sports Pass this summer. You'll get exclusive coverage of The Ryder Cup, ATP Tour and loads more starting from just £7.99. No contract.
