Tennis Australia President Steve Healy is seeking a "major Davis and Fed cups overhaul to ensure the survival of the long-running teams competitions," including an annual World Cup-style finals playoff designed to "attract the world's best players and generate revenues" to rival those of the four Grand Slams, according to Linda Pearce of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Healy is "also a board member" of the Int'l Tennis Federation, which runs the Davis and Fed cups. Australian Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter also "canvassed the views of his colleagues at last year's French Open." Healy said that a "very large majority" supported the need for a format change. Scheduling remains a "major issue, with player availability patchy." Healy: "It's difficult. The players are telling us that they're struggling to fit it into their schedule, so they're not supporting it continually or willingly, I don't think." Healy said of whether he "feared for the future" of the two competitions, "Well, I think unless you get all the players all of the time, you haven't got an event, that's the reality. I love it." The format issues have "been debated for some time," and Healy admitted that there would be "a lot of work to do" to sell any new concept to the ITF. Nevertheless, Healy favors a format with, "probably, eight men's and women's teams competing for separate Davis Cup and Fed Cup trophies, ideally in October, with perhaps the only hiatus coming in an Olympic year" (SMH, 4/23).
