Davis Cup 2018 World Group R1 - Spain v Great Britain - 2-4 February

flamingowings · All-time great

Davis Cup 2018 World Group R1 - Spain v Great Britain - 2-4 February

steven · Tennis legend

flamingowings wrote:
DC format is a-changing. Not necessarily for the better either. 3 sets for a start.

Go Steven - and I believe it's this forum's Steven (on Twitter) - not happy about the changes and rightly so.

Yes, it's me. A worthwhile cause to fight for but after having finally cleared half an afternoon to get the GB top 25 tables going again (I can't believe how many things have got in the way recently), I've ended up spending most of it tweeting about DC. Oops!

Davis Cup twitter must be 'delighted' with response to their tweet about the news - every single reply seems to be hostile for all kinds of reasons. Admittedly, those who are in favour may just 'like' or 'RT' instead of replying, but still.

I don't know if it will work in terms of attracting the top players (though the media harping on and on about top players missing ties belies the fact that the 'big 4' have played 193 DC rubbers between them, with Rafa - behind the butter-wouldn't-melt-in-his-mouth facade, probably the most selfish player around - the worst avoider) - perhaps if they throw enough money at them, they will despite the timing, but that's not the point anyway, in my opinion.

JonH · All-time great

Just catching up on this. So goodbye home and away matches. Let's hope our play off in September is at home as it will be our last one ever, at least at world group level.

I see pique is involved which squares the circle with the world cup of tennis that was muted - two things come together.

18 team event. 6 groups of 3 with two best runners up joining group winners in last 8. It means 75 in main event and them play offs as well, matches over the week in total which suggests an indoor arena would struggle to cope. So Asia or middle east outdoor is likely. At least 6 courts needed. China here we come. Of course that suggests the two wild cards would include China or some such as hosts and then another wild card to ensure any missing top players get to play.

Two singles and a doubles in each match. Disaster

-- Edited by JonH on Monday 26th of February 2018 07:29:32 PM

JonH · All-time great

Doing some more digging. One of Kosmos / Piques main backers is Rakuten. They sponsor the Japanese Open in Tokyo. On that basis, presumably we will see Tokyo as a possible host

It also seems bottom 8 in group stage will play 8 zonal teams in replacement for current world group play offs. So with 54 group matches, 21 knockout and 24 play off in one week, there'll be 99 matches over a week. Definitely will need a large outdoor venue with 6 decent spectator arenas. Tokyo, shanghai, Beijing, Melbourne, miami, dubai come to mind as only possible venues with that level of facility

-- Edited by JonH on Monday 26th of February 2018 07:48:07 PM

flamingowings · All-time great

JonH wrote:
Doing some more digging. One of Kosmos / Piques main backers is Rakuten. They sponsor the Japanese Open in Tokyo. On that basis, presumably we will see Tokyo as a possible host

It also seems bottom 8 in group stage will play 8 zonal teams in replacement for current world group play offs. So with 54 group matches, 21 knockout and 24 play off in one week, there'll be 99 matches over a week. Definitely will need a large outdoor venue with 6 decent spectator arenas. Tokyo, shanghai, Beijing, Melbourne, miami, dubai come to mind as only possible venues with that level of facility

-- Edited by JonH on Monday 26th of February 2018 07:48:07 PM

And how many of those are "good" time zones for Europe I wonder?

JonH · All-time great

flamingowings wrote:
JonH wrote:
Doing some more digging. One of Kosmos / Piques main backers is Rakuten. They sponsor the Japanese Open in Tokyo. On that basis, presumably we will see Tokyo as a possible host

It also seems bottom 8 in group stage will play 8 zonal teams in replacement for current world group play offs. So with 54 group matches, 21 knockout and 24 play off in one week, there'll be 99 matches over a week. Definitely will need a large outdoor venue with 6 decent spectator arenas. Tokyo, shanghai, Beijing, Melbourne, miami, dubai come to mind as only possible venues with that level of facility

-- Edited by JonH on Monday 26th of February 2018 07:48:07 PM
And how many of those are "good" time zones for Europe I wonder?

none! But I'm struggling to think of an indoor location big enough in Europe, or anywhere for that matter?! Paris? It maybe they can use 4 courts and get away with it but they wouldn't all be large enough and surely they'd want arenas that can hold several thousand, so surely outdoors is only real option?

steven · Tennis legend

I think there's a good chance you're right re Japan (either that or they'll put it in the Middle East, or maybe South America) - apparently the Belgian tennis federation president has said he was taken by surprise and will vote against, and expects many of the other European associations to do the same, but I guess they'll be outvoted by the smaller nations in the ITF with $$$s dangled before their eyes.

Meanwhile, David Law seems to have morphed into David Davis and is now trying to convince us that a 16-team straight knockout is too complicated for people to understand so they need something much 'simpler' like an 18-team group phase going into QFs (I wonder how that works ...) - he can't be talking about the lower levels if they're going to stay the same.

Also, if the ITF think this is such a good idea, why are they ignoring Fed Cup? Unlike the ATP and WTA, they're supposed to represent the women's game as well as the men's game, aren't they?

Michael D · All-time great

steven wrote:
I think there's a good chance you're right re Japan (either that or they'll put it in the Middle East, or maybe South America) - apparently the Belgian tennis federation president has said he was taken by surprise and will vote against, and expects many of the other European associations to do the same, but I guess they'll be outvoted by the smaller nations in the ITF with $$$s dangled before their eyes.

Meanwhile, David Law seems to have morphed into David Davis and is now trying to convince us that a 16-team straight knockout is too complicated for people to understand so they need something much 'simpler' like an 18-team group phase going into QFs (I wonder how that works ...) - he can't be talking about the lower levels if they're going to stay the same.

Also, if the ITF think this is such a good idea, why are they ignoring Fed Cup? Unlike the ATP and WTA, they're supposed to represent the women's game as well as the men's game, aren't they?

Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh. Nauseating all of this. I bet none of those trying to push this through have really participated in 5 match, 5 set Davis Cup ties where there is a really good atmosphere, and it partly works well because it is a chance for those not yet quite elites to really test their mettle in the cauldron of playing for their country. But who cares about any of this silly, pointless passion stuff, when it is really just about the money you can give in. Just sell another bit of soul, like Voldemort in splitting his amongst a series of horcruxes and ending up with nothing of any real value any longer.

steven · Tennis legend

The Jetset-only Team Cup is going to be held in Singapore, according to Simon Briggs, who usually knows what he's talking about it. Good news for Roy Hobbs WR 1873 (their only ATP-ranked player) if they get a team wild card ...

Smudge226 · Strong Club Player

Shocked, upset, disappointed. Unique DC home-away ties and atmosphere could be history..

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Keeping head VERY VERY low but.....I think it might not be a bad idea.....runs for cover......

JonH · All-time great

steven wrote:
The Jetset-only Team Cup is going to be held in Singapore, according to Simon Briggs, who usually knows what he's talking about it. Good news for Roy Hobbs WR 1873 (their only ATP-ranked player) if they get a team wild card ...

there'll be a cracking atmosphere there then!

Michael D · All-time great

Coup Droit wrote:
Keeping head VERY VERY low but.....I think it might not be a bad idea.....runs for cover......

Ok CD, what potentially could be the good bits? And you know the current non-World Groups format in the Fed Cup sucks...

indiana · Tennis legend

Head up, let's hear

SuperT · Futures level

steven wrote:
flamingowings wrote:
DC format is a-changing. Not necessarily for the better either. 3 sets for a start.

Go Steven - and I believe it's this forum's Steven (on Twitter) - not happy about the changes and rightly so.
Yes, it's me. A worthwhile cause to fight for but after having finally cleared half an afternoon to get the GB top 25 tables going again (I can't believe how many things have got in the way recently), I've ended up spending most of it tweeting about DC. Oops!
Davis Cup twitter must be 'delighted' with response to their tweet about the news - every single reply seems to be hostile for all kinds of reasons. Admittedly, those who are in favour may just 'like' or 'RT' instead of replying, but still.
I don't know if it will work in terms of attracting the top players (though the media harping on and on about top players missing ties belies the fact that the 'big 4' have played 193 DC rubbers between them, with Rafa - behind the butter-wouldn't-melt-in-his-mouth facade, probably the most selfish player around - the worst avoider) - perhaps if they throw enough money at them, they will despite the timing, but that's not the point anyway, in my opinion.

"Having to do battle over the Davis cup format gets in the way of updating the top 25 tables"!! Now those wretched ITF people really have got a lot to answer for!!