ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti says the WTA holding a World Cup-type event would be "inconsistent" with its scheduling objectives, and also defended the traditional format of Davis Cup.
Speaking at the Davis Cup final, Ricci Bitti reacted to the WTA's recent suggestion that it might begin its own World Cup, a two-week event played at one location. The ITF women's team competition, Fed Cup, consists of various country groups with ties played during specific weeks through the season.
"Again, we don't know exactly what is the model yet. What I can say is a totally different animal from the Fed Cup, totally difficult because it's eight teams in one spot," said Ricci Bitti, adding that it contradicts the WTA's other stated aims of reducing the length of the season and player commitments.
"I want to say I was a little bit surprised about this announcement. I have to say honestly for two reasons. This competition is totally inconsistent with what the WTA has put forth as the Roadmap, the health of the players. It's totally inconsistent with that because it's in the free time [during the off season]. It's also totally inconsistent because they mentioned a mandatory concept," he said, referring to WTA objections when the ITF attempted to require players to play Fed Cup every year to be eligible for the Olympics.
He also mentioned the Fed Cup's own experiment with holding the competition in one location, which led to poor attendance if the home team was not involved. "We have an experience with the four teams in Fed Cup. It was a disaster, I have to say," he said.
Ricci Bitti also disagreed with comparisons between Davis Cup and the new International Premier Tennis League, a two-week event played between teams from four Asian cities that will involve several top players. "It's an exhibition," he said. "It's a competition that has all the right to exist. We cannot stop anybody. We see it as something very different from what I say, representing your country in the top competition in the world."
On Davis Cup, he cited figures such as the crowd of 27,432 for the first day of the Davis Cup final, a record for an official match that was broken by 27,448 on the third day, as well as the reach of the competition.
"We had ties in 58 countries; 30 of these 58 countries do not have any professional tennis. I think this is a very important point," Ricci Bitti said. "We played 82 ties, seven zonal group events, 122 nations participating, 570 professional players played. More or less all the professional players were involved. We have an attendance for the year of more than 600,000 people on-site."
The top players have been playing Davis Cup only intermittently, with Ricci Bitti agreeing that "some people are not participating" but also arguing that there was no consensus on alternatives. "Having said that, we felt already to do something different, and we have not given up," he said.
However, he added, the ITF still wants to stick to three features of the Davis Cup format, which are the "annuality of the competition, "nomination of the team by the national body," and home-and-away ties, which fit with its general objectives. "We recognize that our model from a business point of view is complicated,"Ricci Bitti said. "But it serves much better to have a development function to our members. Our members are the people that develop tennis and the players, the national federations.
"In any case, the value that Davis Cup brings to many nations is vital for the development of the sport, more than many other activities."