Unfortunately, tennis legends Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have never enjoyed fantastic chemistry, and a debate about the Davis Cup can put them in very different positions.
Federer and the Laver Cup
Roger was arguably the main creator of the Laver Cup, an event that has been received extremely well from both the participants and the fans. The Laver Cup is played after the US Open and it has a unique flair that mixes camaraderie with a proper competition. The ATP had mixed feeling about that, but eventually it was decided to embrace it by recognizing its results in the official stats. Points are not awarded, as that would be unfair for the players that are not participating in it.
The Davis Cup and the ATP Cup mess
The Davis cup was bought by the Kosmos group that spent a whopping $3bn for the rights of the competition for a period of 25 years. The format of the competition was completely changed as the Finals are played over a period of 1 week soon after the ATP Finals. The new event has been just launched and the confusion and the controversy are huge. Truth is most of the tennis fans do not like it.
To add even more controversy, the ATP is about to launch a competition (ATP Cup) that is practically identical just 6 weeks after the Davis Cup in what seems to be an unnecessary and frivolous copy and paste.
Roger Federer is among the 5 top 10 players who are not competing in the current Davis Cup. The other ones are Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Daniil Medvedev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Djokovic’s solution: They cannot coexist
The tennis legend thinks that both competitions need to be merged in one, but he acknowledges that it’s rather difficult as the ATP and the ITF (Davis Cup) are different organizations.
The world no.2 commented:
“In my opinion the idea, if it could happen, was the merge between the two and I think it’s still open for the future. Looking long-term, I personally don’t think that the two events can co-exist six weeks apart. It’s just a little bit too congested.”
The home ties
Novak loves his country, and he believes that it’s important to also compete in front of a home crowd, He proposes the following solution:
“This kind of format change had to create some kind of sacrifice and that was probably the biggest one, which I personally as well do miss, I miss playing at home for Serbia in the Davis Cup. I think maybe the ideal format is somewhere in between. Maybe creating an elite, eight-team tournament and having maybe one week or two weeks earlier in the year where nations can play at home in the qualifications group for the elite eight.”
What about the Laver Cup?
Nole added something that can be interpreted as an attack to Federer’s Laver Cup: “The most ideal time of the year is after the US Open, probably at the end of September, that would be the best time to have this super cup, whatever, one cup, hopefully in the future,” he said.
Novak Djokovic’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.2, Novak played his last match on the 14th of November when he was overcome by Roger Federer 6-4 6-3 in the Round Robin in London.
This year the Serbian has a 54-11 win-loss record. The Serbian clinched 5 titles in 2019 at the Australian Open, in Madrid, in Wimbledon, in Tokyo and in Paris. Novak was the finalist in Rome.
Roger Federer’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.3, Federer played his last match on the 16th of November when he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 6-4 in the semifinal in London.
This year Roger has a 51-10 win-loss record. Federer has won 4 titles in 2019 in Dubai, in Miami, in Halle and in Basel. Roger was the finalist in Indian Wells and in Wimbledon.
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer played each other 50 times. The head to head is 27-23 for Djokovic.
The last time that they locked horns, Roger Federer won 6-4 6-3 in the R in London on the 14th November 2019.
Here the highlights.
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer |
| Embed from Getty Images |
