It appears there has been a funeral of sorts this week being organised and carried out by male professional tennis players across the globe.
So who died? The once mighty Davis Cup competition.
The event, which was heralded alongside the four grand slam tournaments in the distant past, had already been on life support in recent years following a major revamp of the format.
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But it appears to be getting its last rites this week, judging by the reaction of present and former players and a major spat that has erupted between a prominent player and a key figure in the event’s current state.
Swiss star and dual grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka fanned the flames this week with a social media post sarcastically “thanking” former footballer Gerard Pique and the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
Wawrinka was competing for his country against France in Manchester and showed scores and scores of empty seats in the stands and virtually no atmosphere.
Historically the Davis Cup is a raucous, rowdy, fiercely patriotic tournament in front of packed houses and rabid home fans.
Pique, a former Barcelona star and World Cup winner with Spain, was behind the restructure of the Davis Cup in 2018 through a company he founded called Kosmos.
The Cup had been lagging due to a lack of big-name players competing for some nations and the revamp was aimed at producing a “World Cup style event”.
The traditional home and away format was replaced with group stages held in one country before knockout rounds were held in another, most recently in Malaga, Spain.
Australia and Great Britain were among the countries voting against any changes, with the likes of Davis Cup greats Lleyton Hewitt and Todd Woodbridge speaking out strongly against the new format.
Wawrinka’s initial post included the angry face with symbols on mouth and face palm emojis and immediately elicited a response from Pique.
“Last year attendance in the group stage,” Pique wrote on X, formerly Twitter, with an image boasting a group stage attendance of over 113,000 people.
“You can compare it yourself Stan Wawrinka. We don’t organise it anymore. Ask the ITF.”
That was in reference to an initial 25-year deal signed between Kosmos and the ITF, which was dissolved in less than five years.
Wawrinka replied: “After a bad day on court, this at least made me laugh!”
Asking why “if it was such a success last year” the deal ended, Pique replied “we still don’t know… let’s see what the judge says” before wishing the Swiss standout good luck.
A number of players responded to Wawrinka’s original post.
“This isn’t Davis Cup,” replied Australia’s John Millman.
“They killed Davis Cup,” wrote retired American player Mardy Fish.
And in response to Pique’s original reply, former French Davis Cup winner Julien Benneteau did not hold back.
“How do you dare to talk ??? You have literally killed one of the pillars of Tennis with the
@ITFTennis
“So please at least shut the f… up.”
Sadly among all this hostility, the current version of the Davis Cup is indeed being held and Australia remains in contention to win it and snap a 20-year drought.
Australia boasts 28 Davis Cup titles dating back to its first win in 1907, second only to the United States with 32.
Having lost its first tie against Great Britain in the group stage, Australia had to beat France to keep its hopes alive and the team duly delivered.
De Minaur, the world No. 12, steamrolled France’s Ugo Humbert in straight sets after Max Purcell, elevated to the singles after Thanasi Kokkinakis’ opening day defeat, lost his clash with Adrian Mannarino.
Purcell then backed up in the doubles, linking up with Matthew Ebden to take down Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Nicolas Mahut in straight sets to clinch the tie for Australia.
A loss would have ended any chance of progression to the Davis Cup finals in Spain in November and de Minaur said he didn’t want to let his country down again.
“A bit of redemption for sure. I haven‘t had too many days like yesterday,” he said.
“I’ve normally delivered when I’ve put on the green and gold, so I’m happy I was able to reset from yesterday and deliver a must-win match.
“I didn’t do anything extraordinary; the only thing I did was keep us alive.”
The top two finishers in each pool progress to the finals and Australia will have to beat Switzerland in its final round-robin tie on Saturday.
Australian captain Hewitt praised his team’s capacity to withstand the pressure of a must-win clash.
“Our backs were against the wall, but we dug deep and we’re hanging in there,” Hewitt said.
“Alex, bloody impressive again today.
“To come from one down, he’s done it plenty of times, but that match was really high quality, and then the boys played a great doubles.”
For the record, Switzerland is also in Australia’s group and lost its opening match with France 3-0.
Wawrinka and the Swiss need to beat Great Britain in their next tie to stay alive before the clash with de Minaur and the Aussie team.
– with NCA Newswire