In 2020, writing about the Davis Cup / ATP Cup / Hopman Cup debacle the ATP brought upon itself, I said, “scrap ATP Cup, give the tour its stake in Davis Cup, bring back the fun of Hopman Cup (which was cancelled to make way for ATP Cup) and let’s get on with making international team tennis must watch TV.”
Good on the ATP for scrapping the ATP Cup this past year (2023). Davis Cup still exists as an international team tournament. The ITF took back control of Davis Cup from Gerard Pique’s Kosmos group less than 5 years into Pique’s 25 year investment in the event. Since then, ITF has actually moved the Davis Cup format in the direction of my 2020 recommendation. ITF also runs the Billie Jean King Cup for women’s team tennis, known as the Federation Cup or Fed Cup from 1963-2020.
Much of my 2020 wish list has been granted. Even the Hopman Cup is back. For some reason, the tournament named in honor of Aussie player and legendary coach, Harry Hopman, was relocated from Perth, Australia to Nice, France. I’m not going to even attempt explaining that decision. Particularly, since the ATP and the WTA got together to create a new mixed-gender international team tournament, the United Cup, in AUSTRALIA the same week they once held Hopman Cup in Perth from 1989-2019.
Putting Hopman Cup in France, on clay courts, in July, after any meaningful clay event on the calendar, is. just. weird. There’s a joke in Queens about two restaurants on the same block with Mexican cooks in the Chinese restaurant and Chinese cooking in a Mexican restaurant. I think this joke can be applied to United Cup and Hopman Cup. Get everyone outside on the sidewalk and point them in the right direction.
I’ve written much about the subpar marketing of tennis. Some of that is a function of local ownership of tour events. But the ITF, ATP, WTA and ITA do not do an incredible job in marketing their schedules. If the sport could stop veering between honoring its traditions and trashing them, there would be a better starting point.
Jeffrey Menaker
Play The Let 