Novak Djokovic Unhappy With Davis Cup Finals 2019 Format

The Serbian tennis player, Novak Djokovic seems to be unhappy with the Davis Cup Finals format. This year’s Davis Cup will be taking place in Madrid, Spain and most of the ATP men will miss out on the opportunity to play on their home soil and in the presence of their home crowd.

“The format change was something that was necessary for the Davis Cup. Yes, there were some things you had to sacrifice, unfortunately, playing home ties that’s probably one of the things we players liked most about Davis Cup because we get to play at home. That isn’t the case anymore. I’m also not a big fan of that decision,” Djokovic said.

The Davis Cup Finals will be taking place after the ATP Finals 2019 and the elite tennis players of the tour will be catching their next flight to Madrid as soon as they are done with their job in London. Consequently, their bodies will be lacking rest. 

“Davis Cup, Roger is not playing and some of the other guys. I don’t know how its gonna turn out this year, but I’m gonna play this year. The week is going to be really tough. The top will be playing London, then take a flight and potentially play the very next day under different conditions,” Djokovic mentioned.

Another similar tournament on the men’s tour, ATP Cup will be inaugurated in the month of January where the ATP men will be representing their nation by teaming up with their compatriots.

“ATP Cup is a completely new event, but ATP Cup has a better week. It’s the beginning of the season a few weeks before the Australian Open starts. Most of the players are already on Australian soil so most of the top players are gonna play there,” World Number one, Djokovic continued.

There is very little time between the two similar events of tennis and this year the players will be shortening their off-season break. “I don’t think they can both coexist six weeks apart for many, many years. Formats are very, very similar if not the same. Of course, Davis Cup has the history behind it and tradition and of course the credibility and popularity of a hundred years,” Djokovic said.

However, from the perspective of business, Djokovic feels Davis Cup will be a massive success. “I think the event in terms of a marketing standpoint, I think Davis Cup is gonna be successful. I think both events are actually going to be really good. It’s gonna be interesting to see how it all turns out.”

“We have to remember they are only six weeks apart. To have two huge competitive team events in our sport so close to each other I don’t think in long-term that’s sustainable. That probably needs to change,” he concluded.

On Thursday, Novak Djokovic played a clean game against the American, John Isner. The American giant slammed his 1007th ace of the year, but the incessant hold on the retuning the balls from Djokovic’s end denied Isner from facing a break point. Also, he reached 350 match wins in ATP Masters 1000 competition after defeating John Isner, 7-5, 6-3.

Novak Djokovic will next play, the sixth seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters 2019.