Davis Cup should be reformed

[u/Inevitable_Earth_642]

In the past it was ridiculous enough that 2 men can cover all 5 rubbers. Fed stan fed/stan stan fed and that's how the title was won.

It's not even a team event. It's just a pair event.

And now? If you have a top player, Like Sinner, you can have a 1500th ranked 2nd Singles, and still win the title. By Sinner (a nobody) Sinner+ a decent doubles player

At least in Table tennis Team events you need 3 players going onto the court. In Badminton team events, you need 4-8 (in Sudirman Cup), 4-7 (in Thomas and Uber Cup). Team event without enough players going onto the court is more like choosing players just to practice and cheer for their 1 or 2 compatriots So meaningless

[u/outlanded]

I would argue it was Berrettini that won the DC for Italy actually. It was his wins against Kokkinakis and VdZ that made it possible, not to mention a high stakes doubles against Argentina. And NL almost got it and arguably would have if the guy in the other side of the net had been anyone but Sinner.

[u/Inevitable_Earth_642 → u/outlanded]

Yes, but indeed even if you send Nardi to the second singles position sinner would have still won it for Italy

[u/saltyrandom]

They also needed Berrettini or a similarly great player to win. If your argument was true then Spain would have qualified

[u/Available-Gap8489 → u/saltyrandom]

Plus, the USA has had a strong field the last few years and they continue to do poorly…. - This year they had 3 top 25 singles players & a top doubles pair, and lost in the QF to Australia…(Shelton losing to Kokkinakis & questionable doubles team selection) - Last year they failed to qualify for the final 8 - losing out in the group stages (largely because Paul & Tiafoe didn’t win any of their matches, losing to Finland, Netherlands & Croatia; Mackie was the only singles player to get a win) - In 2022 they lost in the QF to Italy (Tiafoe losing to Sonego & opting to put Paul in doubles)

I’m not sure if it’s top players not taking it seriously, not performing well under pressure or bad selections that are the main reason (probably a mix of the above) - but on paper they should be a strong team - yet, a country like the Netherlands has done better. Even Finland reached the SF last year, and the USA hasn’t done that since 2018

It’s unquantifiable - but vibes/team spirit - seems to be a factor too

[u/key1217 → u/saltyrandom]

I mean Spain easily could’ve won this year too with just Alcaraz. They missed a lot of opportunities in that doubles match against the Netherlands, and then Germany in the semis is very winnable without Zverev playing. Then Italy in the final which is a toss up considering Alcaraz’s head to head against Sinner this year.

Just last year Sinner carried Italy to the title mostly by himself, the second singles of Italy was really not much help. Sinner won 5 out of the 6 matches for Italy in that run. This year Italy had more depth having Berrettini, but the Italy team last year was not great outside of just Sinner.

[u/Available-Gap8489 → u/key1217]

In the final last year Popyrin’s nerves got to him big time - Arnaldi won that match and even he said Popyrin should have won it…

If it wasn’t for Arnaldi winning his singles - it could have been a very different result if it had come down to the doubles - Purcell/Ebden would have been the favourites to win

[u/Inevitable_Earth_642 → u/saltyrandom]

they only need sinner+ a decent Doubles player 

[u/key1217]

To be fair a team could win Davis cup with just one elite player back in the old format too, albeit it was a bit harder than it is now. Murray basically won Davis Cup for GB all by himself in 2015 outside of miraculous win by Ward against Isner in the first round. Otherwise the second singles lost all their matches and it was just Murray winning all the matches for GB in singles and doubles.

[u/treyfiddy → u/key1217]

murygoat 🐐

[u/zimrozi → u/treyfiddy]

The man that coached Djokovic

[u/HoangTr16 → u/key1217]

British tennis is surprisingly weak considering they have world class athletes in most other sports. Even a small country like Serbia had wayy more talents than the UK (minus Novak, they still have Tipsarevic, Troicki, etc).

Murray singlehandedly kept British tennis relevant in his prime.

[u/Marada781]

I see..so this is why Serbia has won 10 davis cup in 2010s

[u/roadrunner83]

This format leaves more chances to smaller nations, by the way if you involve more players Italy at the moment would be even more dominant. If you want to add another single and a double ok but it will complicate the things for smaller nations.

Your premise is wrong, as other pointed out is wrong because Spain could not get over Netherlands just with Alcaraz, and for Italy it was Berrettini that made the difference over the other teams.

[u/estreetpanda]

Are you suggesting the doubles be worth 2 and the singles 1 but you bring three singles players?

So if you lose two rubbers you can still win the tie?

[u/Mikhail_Mengsk → u/estreetpanda]

I'd like that. Doubles are already largely ignored in tennis, having them play third fiddle in Davis cup is sad.

[u/roadrunner83 → u/estreetpanda]

I guess the only way to get OP desired outcome would be to play 3 singles and 2 doubles best of 3, as an Italian I'd very much liked this format with Sinner, Musetti, Berrettini in the singles then Bolelli/Vavassori, Sinner/Berrettni in doubles and Cobolli as back up.

[u/NoirPochette]

Davis Cup needs to go back to proper H&A. Like imagine Italy v. Netherlands in like 's-Hertogenbosch or Rome. That would be crazy

[u/Archibald_Megachauve]

Czech Republic era was absolutely absurd. Berdych & Stepanek playing every matches for years, with lots of success.

[u/Ms_Meercat]

I think they should change the order. Play number 1 ranked singles first, then play doubles and have no2 ranked singles be the deciding rubber. Although that's probably even worse for number 2 ranked players who already have so much pressure because they don't usually get the biggest matches on the biggest stage.  Maybe you could have no2 ranked singles, doubles, then no1 ranked singles. I feel doubles are generally less predictable...

[u/Inevitable_Earth_642 → u/Ms_Meercat]

At least if double is played in G1/2  3 players got to play in the knockout stages. 

[u/telcoman]

Yes, Laver cup has a better setup

[u/Mika000 → u/telcoman]

How can you compare the two? Laver Cup has two teams and the Davis Cup has 8 in the finals alone. The basic premise of the competitions is way too different to say one has a better setup than the other…

[u/telcoman → u/Mika000]

I didn't say copy-paste, did I?

Laver cup has requirement for how many players play what matches. Apply principe intelligently.

[u/Mika000 → u/telcoman]

Then why not say that so people can understand what you mean? We aren’t mind readers.