“Cup buffs” know that any of the tournament’s 100-plus participating teams can, theoretically, take home the trophy if they win enough matches. Fans also know that these teams include both established powers and struggling minnows. And these patient Cupsters are aware it takes a long time – about a year – to crown a champion in this seemingly never-ending competition.
It’s for these reasons that I’ve always been a fan of the FA Cup. Technically known as “The Football Association Challenge Cup,” the FA Cup is an annual soccer tournament that any British club in any league can enter. This year, 762 different clubs entered the FA Cup, which takes nearly an entire year to complete. For an analogy that resonates stateside, imagine the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Cyclones competing for the same trophy.
Because of this unique format, the FA Cup has been one of the most celebrated football competitions in the world since its inception in 1871. But recently, fan and player interest in the tournament has waned, mostly because of an overcrowded football calendar. English football clubs must fit FA Cup play into a schedule that includes weekly league matches, other domestic tournaments, and in some cases, lucrative international events. As a result, many clubs – especially higher-profile ones – field second-tier squads for FA Cup matches, resting their best players for the bigger-money Premier League and European league matches.
As the Rafael Nadals and Maria Sharapovas of the pro tennis tours know, English soccer is not the only sport whose unforgiving schedule punishes its athletes. And both the Davis Cup and the FA Cup suffer as a result of their respective sports’ congested calendars. The Davis Cup tournament is spread throughout the year, slotted in what little free space is available on the schedule. The final two rounds of competition – which should be the most dramatic – are contested after the U.S. Open, when players are worn out from eight uninterrupted months of tour play. It’s no wonder that many exhausted players opt out of Davis Cup participation. And when players choose not to play, fan interest inevitably declines – as it has in the FA Cup.
When players eschew Davis Cup ties in order to rest, the integrity of the competition suffers. Davis Cup is the only annual men’s event that pits countries against each other, a scenario that can make for compelling tennis theater. But too often, fans don’t get to see the best talent a country has to offer. In fact the biggest question surrounding most Davis Cup ties is not, “Who will win?” but instead, “Who will play?” For an example, look no further than this weekend’s Davis Cup final between Argentina and Spain. The lead story heading into the tie has been not the competition itself, but Nadal’s knee injury, which has forced him off his country’s roster.
The format of the Davis Cup is appealing in theory but a disaster in practice. The overcrowded tennis schedule tarnishes the Cup by precluding the participation of many top players. But there is a solution, and it starts with adjusting the ATP Tour calendar.
The number of tournaments played in a given week on tour is not constant – sometimes there is only one taking place; other times, up to four are played simultaneously. A lot of space could be created in the calendar if the number of tournaments played each week increased (for example, if an International Series event took place the same week as a Masters Series tournament). Players who enter virtually every event on the calendar would be forced to make choices about what tournaments to enter. They'd play less, would be more rested, and ideally, would be less likely to skip Davis Cup.
While this solution would not impact everyone – the top guns play in only the Grand Slams and Masters Series events anyway – Davis Cup can only thrive if everyone participates. Ultimately, the overall schedule needs to be significantly shortened for this to happen. Considering all of the money, egos, and territorialism involved in tennis tournaments, reorganizing the pro schedule would be an onerous task. But it needs to be done, or else the Davis Cup will be relegated to obscurity, just like its counterpart in football.