Has the new Davis Cup format caused the tournament to lose its soul ?

Over the long history of tennis, Davis Cup has been one of the few features of men’s tennis which has kept its competition. However, over the years, the tournament has been placed on life support, after many features of the competition were adulterated. In this year’s edition, one obvious change (post 2018) is that the matches are no longer best -of- 5 anymore. Later in the year, the ‘finals’ of the Davis Cup will be held all in one arena- a serious mockery of the previous home-and-away format.

In late 2021, these concerns were only echoed even more when former tennis great Lleyton Hewitt took offence to suggestions of moving the Davis Cup to the Middle East. To add insult to injury, reverse singles matches had also scrapped to make match-ups shorter. Previously, the tournament was played on four different weekends across dozens of countries. To boot, the Davis Cup finals held in November also suffers from a highly neutral and lacklustre fan base. Given the final of these tournament in previous years was played with a highly partisan crowd for the home crowd, there are rumours from pundits that the energy of the tournament has been lulled due to a lack of a home crowd. Tournament ties are also played all within 1 day.

The tournament is clearly designed to suit a TV audience, and is far more favourable for broadcasters. However, restricting the Davis Cup to 3 countries can be seen to be shrinking the market for tennis, as many fans around the world now are unable to see Davis Cup matches played in their country. One argument from players of the old format, was that players would have to switch surfaces so many times in a season, disrupting their rhythm. However, many fans feel that the new Davis Cup format, post 2018, is almost indistinguishable from the ATP Cup.

So, all in all, what are your biggest concerns with the current Davis Cup format, and has it lost its soul?