Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic cast doubt over Davis Cup participation

Davis Cup
Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic at the Laver Cup

The revamped Davis Cup might have to do without two of the world’s best players when the inaugural tournament takes place in Madrid with both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic admitting they are unlikely to take part.

Despite a massive uproar, the International Tennis Federation voted in favour of a proposal to overhaul the team competition. Instead of home and away ties, 12 countries will compete for the Davis Cup in a week-long event in Madrid from 2019.

Earlier this week, Germany’s No 1 ranked player Alexander Zverev announced he will boycott the new tournament and now 20-time Grand Slam winner Federer has all but ruled himself out of next year’s competition.

“No, I highly doubt it, of course. We’ll see what happens,” he said.

“I don’t think this was designed for me, anyhow.

“This was designed for the future generation of players.”

Reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion Djokovic had similar views and admitted he is more likely to commit to the ATP Tour’s new World Team Cup that will be played early in the year.

“I just feel like the date of the Davis Cup is really bad, especially for the top players,” the 14-time Grand Slam winner said.

“Between the two, I will prioritise the World Team Cup because that’s a competition of ATP.

“But also I think and I hope that there will be a larger discussion between the players to understand how we are going to approach these two competitions.

“Or hopefully we can make it to the point where we can have one big ‘Super World Cup’, if you want to call it (that), or whatever it is, because that’s the best thing for our sport.

“But the way it seems right now, we are going to have two at the moment.”

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