Shanghai (AFP) – Novak Djokovic wants to see a tennis “Super World Cup” and strongly suggested that he will join Alexander Zverev in skipping the new Davis Cup finals.
A new-format Davis Cup finale is slated for a week in Madrid in November 2019, but it has been controversial with some fans and players.
Zverev, the world number five, said at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday that he will not compete in the men’s team event because it comes at the end of a long season.
Third-ranked Djokovic agreed on Thursday that the timing was “really bad”.
He is backing instead the rival ATP World Team Cup, set to take place weeks later at the start of the 2020 season in Australia.
Speaking in Shanghai, the 31-year-old Djokovic said there was “confusion” with the two competing events coming so close together and being so similar.
Asked if he would compete in the Davis Cup, he replied that “I’m not 100 percent sure at the moment”.
“I just feel like the date of the Davis Cup is really bad, especially for the top players,” said Djokovic, echoing the strong sentiments of Zverev a day earlier.
“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.”
