The partnership that linked the International Tennis Federation and the Kosmos group for 25 years on the background of the organization of the Davis Cup and had led to a very controversial new formula is officially over. Both sides ended it abruptly on Thursday and the ITF will regain control. The old scheme could therefore very quickly resume its rights. If so, obviously it won’t be right away.
The International Tennis Federation regains control of the Davis Cup. While the partnership linking the ITF board and Gérard Piqué’s Kosmos group was born in 2018 in the form of a 25-year contract, the two camps decided to suddenly end it on Thursday. , without any reason leaking for the moment. Still, the contract in question was terminated by mutual agreement and the ITF and Kosmos definitively separated.
According to the press release sent to AFP by the authority, everything suggests that it is the ITF itself (due to a financial disagreement, according to certain sources) which would have decided to regain control , no offense to the investment group dear to the former central defender of FC Barcelona and the Spanish team. “The ITF confirms that its partnership with Kosmos Tennis for the Davis Cup ends in its fifth year”, we learn only, while tennis enthusiasts and in particular of this competition won four times by France since the beginning of the Open era are already dreaming of a return to the old formula.
No return to the old formula for the moment?
A year after the signing of the partnership between the International Tennis Federation and Kosmos, Piqué had indeed revolutionized the event by replacing the traditional pattern – namely matches (four singles interspersed with a double on Saturday) disputed to the best of five matches themselves in the best of five sets on the ground of the host country and all over three days – by a tournament between all the teams qualified for the final phase organized in one and the same city, in addition to the best of three matches (two singles and one double) and best of three sets only.
A radical change experienced as an affront for many players, very attached to the formula of always. For now, a return to the old scheme does not seem relevant, however, despite the end of the contract between the ITF and Kosmos. The ITF announced on Thursday that “qualifying and the final stages of the 2023 edition will take place as planned, with the eight-team final stage being held in Malaga, Spain, in November. »
