Chris Kermode believes staging events so close to one another would be taxing on the players.GETTY IMAGES
ATP Exec Chair Chris Kermode said that staging two competing World Cup events in the space of six weeks would be "insane," according to Russell Fuller of the BBC. The Int'l Tennis Federation "has set out plans for an 18-team end-of-season event" which will crown the Davis Cup champions from '19. The ATP's priority is to stage a revamped World Team Cup in Australia in the first week of January from '20. Kermode: "Hopefully tennis works together and we come up with a solution." Talks have already taken place between the ITF and the ATP to "try and find a compromise," he added (BBC, 5/15). REUTERS' Aditi Prakash reported if both competitions are approved, men’s players will end their season at the World Cup of Tennis and after a "very short break," start preparing for the World Team Cup and the following grand slam. Kermode believes that it would be "very taxing." He said, "It doesn’t make any sense to have two team events. Personally I think that would be insane. Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen" (REUTERS, 5/16).
CHANGES COMING: The BBC's Russell Fuller reported shot clocks and reduced warm-ups "appear very likely to be introduced to the ATP Tour -- and possibly next season." A "number of innovations" were trialed at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan last November. Players can expect to face a 25-second serving clock and a reduced warm-up on tour in either '19 or '20. The shot clock "is set to be enforced at a Grand Slam for the first time during this year's US Open" (BBC, 5/15).
