U.S. Davis Cup team captain Jim Courier believes that if the Davis Cup was a publicly listed company rather than a 116-year-old teams competition that is "failing to justify the space it occupies on the crowded tennis calendar, it would already have been swallowed up by the multi-national behemoths that are the four grand slams," according to Linda Pearce of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Courier is "among the many believers that change is needed;" under newly installed Int'l Tennis Federation President Dave Haggerty, a fellow American, Courier is "more optimistic that an overhaul is coming." Among the possibilities flagged by Haggerty, who succeeded Francesco Ricci Bitti last year, is a "final four" concept involving playing the semis and final over a single week each November at a neutral venue, rather than the "current home-and-away system contested over four separate weekends." From this year, fifth sets will "no longer be advantage sets but decided by tiebreakers." Courrier said, "I'm very bullish on Davis Cup now that there's a new president. I think we were certainly stagnant for a while under the previous leadership and I think there's a breath of fresh air coming, I think there's a look forward to modernize Davis Cup and to make it sing in the way that the Australian Open and the majors are singing globally these days." He added, "You don't have to look too far to the World Cup in football or soccer to see what that means to people who don't care about soccer. They get invested in it in a way that I'd love to see people invested in Davis Cup and Fed Cup ... It's such a glorious competition, a great competition to be involved in, and I just wish more people shared our enthusiasm for it" (SMH, 2/29).
