A radical reform of the Davis Cup was agreed
by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Thursday.
A controversial proposal by ITF president David Haggerty for an
annual season-ending finals event from next year received a vote of
71.4 per cent at the federation's conference in Orlando, Florida,
above the necessary two-thirds majority.
Several national federations were against the change to the 118-year
event, including Germany's tennis federation which voted against.
The investment company Kosmos, founded by Barcelona defender star
Gerard Pique, who has promised 3 billion dollars to the ITF for 25
years, is behind the plans, which will see 18 nations play a
week-long World Cup-style finals in November at a neutral venue.
The competition will begin with 24 teams playing home-or-away matches
in February, with the 12 winners moving to the finals.
The four semi-finalists from the year before and two wild-card teams
would join them in the 18-team year-end event.
The finals will consist of six round-robin groups of three teams
followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. Matches will
be two singles and a doubles rubber played on one day rather than the
current best-of-five format.
The Davis Cup is currently contested over four weekends in February,
July, September and November.