The Davis Cup took centre stage over the weekend, as seven nations joined defending champions Italy for the finals.
It was not short of drama, as record 32-time champions USA crashed out of the Davis Cup after being beaten by Czechia.
This was not the only tie full of drama, with Holger Rune receiving a lot of backlash for what he did after his loss to Spain’s Pedro Martinez.
With all of this going on in just one weekend, the Davis Cup has been praised for something that they have changed this year.
The Davis Cup made a great decision to revert back to the old format
The Davis Cup is one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world, beginning 125 years ago in 1900.
Tennis is often a very individual sport, but the Davis Cup enables ATP players to compete in teams and represent their nations.
One of the most iconic things about the Davis Cup is the home-and-away ties, creating some of the best atmospheres that tennis has ever seen.
However, from 2019 the event was overhauled, with the number of those home-and-away ties being significantly reduced and instead having a single host location for the new ‘Davis Cup Finals’.
This change has evoked a lot of criticism in recent years, with players including Alexander Zverev refusing to play in the Davis Cup due to it.
Seemingly in response to this backlash, the Davis Cup announced last year that they would be making changes to move closer to the original format.
Instead of the ‘Davis Cup Finals Group Stages’, which saw four host locations hold a group each, the Davis Cup announced that they would have a second round of qualifier ties.
This has come into play for the first time over the past weekend, with ties taking place across the globe from Florida to Sydney.
There have been some incredible atmospheres as a result of this, and tennis fans have spoken out on social media about how much better they think this format is than last year.
One account wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “IT’S REALLY THAT SIMPLE! When the Davis Cup is played in a home-and-away format, it comes back to life. Just ask Brazil, Argentina or Spain this weekend. And Tsitsipas.”
Another added, “IMO (In my opinion) they ruined #DavisCup and made it a lesser tournament with the change of format. Today though I enjoyed the win as I did in the old days because of the guys that got that victory, who are usually not on the spotlight and very few expected to see victorious after 0-2!”
Someone else had a rhetorical question for the event, “This home/away Davis Cup is not bad after all, no?”
An additional social media user said, “Martinez and Rune to a match tiebreak. Not much beats home/away ties in the Davis Cup.”
David Ferrer responds when asked if Spain’s tie vs Denmark reminded him of the ‘old Davis Cup’
It was not just tennis fans that have noticed the change, with former world number three and Spanish Davis Cup captain David Ferrer claiming it felt like when he played the competition after watching his teams comeback against Denmark.
“I really enjoyed it,” Ferrer said in his press conference. “It was similar to the Davis Cup I experienced when I played, with the stands full, cheering, that tension between both teams… as a former tennis player, those emotions, when you’re a player, are much stronger. You experience it from a very intense perspective.
“As captain, it was one of the times I was able to feel something for what I played, to see those emotions of the players. I’m so happy they’re experiencing this, because tennis is a very tough sport, every week: being able to experience that as a team makes me immensely happy.”
There will be no more top level home-and-away ties in the Davis Cup until next year now, as the final eight of the tournament have been set.
The Davis Cup Finals will take place in Bologna between November, 18-23, as Italy look to win the title for a third consecutive year.
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