'We need to have one Super World Cup event', says Djokovic
The ATP Cup will see 24 nations contesting in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney over 10 days
BRISBANE (Reuters) - Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic - the top two men’s players in the world - called for one "Super World Cup" tennis event on the eve of the inaugural edition of the ATP Cup team event.
The ATP Cup will see 24 nations contesting in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney over 10 days and will give the top men’s players a solid platform to prepare for the Australian Open.
To accommodate the $15 million ATP Cup, which also offers 750 ranking points, the year’s first Grand Slam has been pushed back from its usual mid-month start by a week and will kick off at Melbourne Park on January 20.
Australian Open holder Djokovic will make his ATP Cup debut for Serbia against South Africa in Brisbane on Saturday (January 4) while Nadal will lead Spain into action against Georgia in Perth on the same day.
The tournament, however, comes just six weeks after the inaugural edition of the revamped Davis Cup, the International Tennis Federation’s flagship event, which was similar in nature and question remains if the two can co-exist in the future.
The Davis Cup was held in November in Madrid’s La Caja Magica with 18 nations playing a week-long soccer World Cup-style showpiece and Djokovic, the president of the ATP’s Player Council, has led calls for a merger of the two tournaments.
"We need to have one Super World Cup event, whatever you want to call it," said Djokovic on Thursday (January 2). "That’s not going to happen next year as well. But if the two sides, the ITF, the Davis Cup, and the ATP get together very quickly, it can happen possibly for 2022."
Nadal agreed with Djokovic, saying:
"Yeah, it’s confusing to have two World Cups of tennis in one month. For me personally that’s not the ideal situation for our sport, but that’s how it works today and I’m very excited that we can change that in the future."
France’s Nicolas Mahut also said having two men’s team competitions was "too much".
"Obviously, we don’t need two competitions the same way. Two team competitions is too much," he said.
The new ATP event has also had major implications for the other tennis events in Australia that have traditionally been used by players to prepare for the year’s first Grand Slam.
The ATP Cup left no room in the revamped tennis calendar for the mixed-gender Hopman Cup, which is popular with players and has traditionally served as a warm-up for the Australian Open.
With Brisbane hosting matches in the ATP Cup, next week’s Brisbane International will be a women’s only tournament while the Sydney International - one of the oldest tennis tournaments in the world dating back to 1885 - has also gone missing.
Sydney’s loss proved to be Adelaide’s gain as the city will host the Adelaide International from Jan. 12, where Djokovic and women’s world number one Ash Barty are the top draws.
