CHENNAI : It's official. The All India Tennis Association (AITA) will say ‘no’ when the proposed Davis Cup changes will be put to a vote at the International Tennis Federation’s AGM in Florida on Thursday. The changes, which include radically altering the existing format (best of five to three, removing four knock-out rounds spread through the season for a single one week window in November at a neutral venue), needs a two-thirds majority for the resolution to pass.
While initial reports suggest the vote might be too close to call, India, whose teams have punched above their weight in the competition, want the existing format to remain. “We are obviously going to say no at the vote,” AITA’s secretary general Hironmoy Chatterjee told Express. “This is also what the players, captain and coach want. We were against it when ITF initially listed the new proposals, we are against it now, And we will be against it during the vote.”
The Davis Cup enjoys intense popularity with traditionalists but the ITF wants a ‘yes’ mandate. They believe this overhaul will make the elite — the likes of Rafael Nadal — embrace it more among other things. Interestingly, the Spaniard has welcomed the proposals but not everyone is on the same page. For instance, Yannick Noah, France’s captain, said ‘it would be the end’.