In an individual sport like tennis, the Davis Cup it is a romantic exception. The oldest and most important national team competition in the world of racket (twin sister of the women’s Billie Jean King Cup), which reached its 113th editionwill be staged in Bologna from 18 to 23 November. Over the course of its century of life, Davis has changed its face several times, adapting to the eras and its protagonists. THE’Italywinner of the last two editions of the tournament and orphan of Jannik Sinner, will make their debut today 19 November at 4pm against Austria in Bologna. Let’s discover together the evolution of its format and why today it has to deal with numerous criticisms from players and professionals.
The evolution of the format: from the Challenge Round to today’s Final 8
The Davis Cup was officially born on August 8th 1900 in Boston at the Longwood Cricket Clubwhere the first meeting between the USA and the British Isles took place. The formula is chosen Challenge Roundused at Wimbledon and in the American Championships: the teams play each other in direct elimination to elect the challenger of the reigning champions, on the field only for the final to defend the title. This concept was maintained until 1971 (since 1923 the participating nations were divided into two areas, America and Europe, and the winning teams of the two zones met in the “Inter-Zonal Final” to decide which team would challenge the reigning champions in the final).
The first epochal turning point came in 1972when the Challenge Round is abolished. The reigning champions (in this case the USA) take to the field from the first round in the American zone. In the 1981 another radical change is launched: the del format is introduced “World Group” of 16 nationsmaintained until 2018: the sixteen best national teams compete in a direct elimination draw with the cup at stake, while the other nations are involved in one of the various groups within the three regional zones, to gain promotion to the world group or avoid relegation to a lower one.
From the 2019 with the so-called “Piquè reform” (former defender of Barcelona and the Spanish national football team) and his investment company Kosmos the concept of “Final 8”: The eight best teams play for the cup in one week at the end of the season, with qualifiers divided into four groups in September. Each match is played as a best of three matches, two singles and one doubles, all a best of three sets.
The last revolution, dated 2025represents a partial return to the past: the September group stage is abolished and the direct elimination match to be played with the home-or-away formula between the two national teams is reintroduced to qualify for the Final 8 (1st round in January/February, 2nd round in September). At the end of the season the title is still up for grabs in the Final 8, with wild cards for the host nation which evokes the Challenge Round era.
Goodbye field factor and epic nature of the challenges: the criticisms, the reasons and the lump sums of the big names
The year that, in fact, overturned the tradition of the Davis Cup is 2019: with the introduction of the Final 8, the field factorand consequently, the heat and the public folklore of the host country in the home-or-away formula (returning only in qualifying matches from 2025). Furthermore, in the format of the eight-team final, theepic nature of the challenges of the old Davis which were historically played over five matches played over a weekend: two singles on Friday, doubles on Saturday and another two singles on Sunday. Furthermore, the host team could choose the surface to play on.
The main reason for the revolution was to meet the current needs of tennis playersalready exhausted by a busy ATP calendar from January, with the start of the season in Australia, until the end in mid-November with the ATP Finals. The top players also use the month of December, the so-called off-seasonto prepare for the new season. The short circuit, however, is created due to the period in which the Final 8 is placed, i.e. the end of November.
Over the last 20 years years i best players of the circuit have excluded the Davis Cup from their schedule several times: among the Big Three the attendance rate ranges from 40%. Rafael Nadal (which raised the Salad Bowl 5 times) to about 60% of Roger Federer And Novak Djokovic. This year Jannik Sinner chose not to join Filippo Volandri’s national team in Bologna to dedicate himself to preparing for 2026, Carlos Alcaraz has given up to his Spain for half of his possible call-ups.
Proposals to “save” the Davis Cup: two-year/three-year formula and ATP points
From 2009 to 2015, to encourage players to participate in the Davis Cup, a system of awarding ATP points was introduced only for rounds from the World Group onwards, but the experiment was soon abandoned. But it is precisely from here that we should start again to “save” the charm and importance of the salad bowl, as explained by the president of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation, Angelo Binaghi. Another solution, suggested by several insiders and shared by Sinner and Alcaraz a few days ago in Turin during the ATP Finals, would be to make the event more exclusive, with a every two or three yearsperhaps without overlapping with the Olympic year.
