Madrid — Three of the world’s top-five players have expressed interest in Gerard Pique’s proposal to create a Davis Cup-like tournament, with Andy Murray calling it “a really exciting idea” and Novak Djokovic saying it “can only bring positives to our sport”.
Rafael Nadal also sounds intrigued by it, and hopes it will take place.
Pique, the FC Barcelona defender, has been spotted having discussions with executives from the ATP at the Madrid Open during the week, and Spanish media have revealed he has pitched an idea of a one-week Davis Cup-like event that would feature 16 nations – including Spain.
The superstar footballer has been talking to some of the players to get their backing and while Murray wasn’t able to sit down with him here, he sounds interested in the concept.
“I’ve tried to speak to him a couple of times, but we’ve exchanged messages. I’ve called him once or twice, but we haven’t actually spoken in person or on the phone about it,” Murray told reporters at the Caja Magica on Thursday following his straight-sets defeat to Borna Coric.
“But yeah, I mean, doing new things in tennis is never easy. It’s always, you know, a lot of obstacles. It’s difficult with the calendar and the schedule that we have.
“I think that it’s a really exciting idea. If it comes off, I think it would be a very, very good thing for tennis. Whether it will or not, you know, is a different question. I think there’s still a lot of things that need to be worked out before it potentially happens. But I think it would be a very good thing for tennis. Tennis needs an event like that, and I think it would be very good.”
Djokovic, who beat Feliciano Lopez on Thursday to reach the Madrid quarter-finals, also sounds keen about the idea. The Serb has long been a vocal critic of the current format of Davis Cup and is a proponent for new concepts to break the tennis mould.
“He’s (Pique) a great guy, and I have tremendous respect for what he has achieved in his football career. To see one of the football greats coming to the tennis world and trying to support it personally, but also in some structural business way, can only bring positives to our sport,” said Djokovic.
“We did talk several times. But I cannot reveal what we talked about because many of the things are still not official. There are certain ideas and projects in place where he’s also involved. But we still don’t know whether or not that’s going to come to realization. It really depends on different things.
“The tennis world is complex, if I can say, because there are many different governing bodies and many different associations that have the control over certain aspects of the game or tournaments. The schedule is quite complicated.
“But I’m really glad that there are people like Gerard that are willing to invest the time and energy to make this game better. So hopefully it’s going to come to life whatever we are talking about.”
Nadal, who beat Nick Kyrgios in two sets on Thursday, has been aware of the project for some time.
“I know from a long time ago there was a group, that Gerard Piqué is inside of this group, that they wanted to do some kind of competition, like a world championship. I think it would be great. It would be very interesting to be able to compete for our country,” said Nadal, another player who has complained about Davis Cup’s current format multiple times.
“I know that the format will be a 10-day tournament in the same spot. I think that it will be a really good initiative. Hopefully it will take place.”
Spanish website El Espanol says the first proposed city for such an event would be Doha, but that other cities would also be considered.
