Despite retiring in 2022, Roger Federer’s Davis Cup career ended in 2014, the year his home nation of Switzerland emerged victorious at the annual international event.
Federer made several appearances at the Davis Cup in the early days of his tennis journey, first featuring at the tournament in 1999, when he helped his country achieve a quarterfinal finish.
Switzerland reached the last eight in 2001 and 2004, and made it to the semifinals in 2003, but suffered a number of playoff exits in the years that followed.
After Federer and Stan Wawrinka guided the country to a triumph in 2014, the 20-time Grand Slam champion stopped appearing at the competition and helped create a new team event, the Laver Cup, which had its inaugural edition in 2017.
Roger Federer’s comments about the Davis Cup changes in 2018
In 2018, the International Tennis Federation (ITF), who organise the Davis Cup, reformed the tournament.
A 71.63% majority voted to make it a one-week event, with 18 teams that would see the ITF rake in $125 million annually.
It would also introduce a round of home and away ties for qualification, reduced to best of three sets.
Reacting to the changes that year, Federer said: “The ITF has historically never involved the players.
“I’m still a bit surprised. I didn’t get involved because I didn’t know the solution. It was definitely flawed in some ways, you know, the Davis Cup.
“So for me, I don’t know, I feel sad about it, you know, not to have the Davis Cup as it used to be. It will never be the same.”
He added: “I just hope that every penny of that mass of money will be paid for the next generation.”
Novak Djokovic’s reaction to the 2018 Davis Cup changes
Novak Djokovic, who won the Davis Cup with Serbia in 2010, said of the reforms in 2018: “I heard that people were mentioning my name in the support of the whole deal, which is not true.
“I am only in support of the format change. That, I have said, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago, and today. So it hasn’t changed.
“I’m really glad that people of ITF are understanding the urgency of changing the format and the schedule.
“It was just not right, especially for the top players. Very few top players have played consistently the Davis Cup competition.”
Djokovic has featured sporadically at the Davis Cup since his victory in 2010, having reached the final in 2013, where Serbia lost to the Czech Republic.
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