Forget Shapovalov incident – want Federer, Nadal and Murray to play Davis Cup? Schedule it right

Proposal to play tournament in neutral venues also non-starter with players, writes Ahmed Rizvi.

Umpire Arnaud Gabas, of France, holds his face after being hit by a ball during a Davis Cup match between Canada's Denis Shapovalov and Great Britain's Kyle Edmund on Sunday in Ottawa. Justin Tang / AShow more

Given the number of leading players missing from the opening round of the Davis Cup it could have been easy to forget the matches were taking place. That was until Denis Shapovalov took centre stage on Sunday.

Trailing Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund by two sets in the decisive fifth rubber of their Davis Cup tie in Ottawa, the Canadian dropped serve early in the third set and, in a rage, he tried to smash a ball out of the stadium.

Unfortunately for Shapovalov, 17, the ball hit umpire Arnaud Gabas in the left eye and the teenager was immediately defaulted by the referee Brian Earley, allowing Great Britain to take their place in the last eight.

“To be honest, I feel incredibly ashamed and embarrassed,” Shapovalov said. “I feel awful for letting my team down, for letting my country down, for acting a way that I would never want to act. I can promise that’s the last time I will do anything like that.”

Thankfully, Shapovalov sees the error of his ways. It would be nice if the same could say the same about the International Tennis Federation and its organisation of the Davis Cup.

The top stars of world tennis have been asking the ITF to make changes for years, but their pleas have been falling on deaf years and few of them want to turn up for Davis Cup duty – not because they do not want to, but because the scheduling makes it almost impossible.

Last weekend, only two of the top 15 in the men’s game participated in Davis Cup duty – No 2 Novak Djokovic and No 15 Nick Kyrgios.

There could have potentially been a blockbuster fifth rubber between Andy Murray, the world No 1, and Milos Raonic, the No 4, in Ottawa – and not Shapovalov’s misdeed – if the Davis Cup had not been scheduled in the week following the Australian Open.

Both Murray and Raonic, however, were missing in action, and so was the Swiss duo of Roger Federer and world No 3 Stan Wawrinka as their team got beaten 5-0 by the United States.

There was no Kei Nishikori, the world No 5, for Japan as they went down 4-1 to France.

The French, of course, had no place for No 9 Gael Monfils or No 14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on their team. Rafael Nadal, No 6, was also absent from the Spanish team, who beat Croatia 3-2. No 7 Marin Cilic was missing from the other side.

David Goffin (Belgium, No 11) and Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic, No 12) had also decided to skip national duty, though their teams were playing in the World Group first round.

Most of the ATP World Tour’s 250 tournaments – the lowest category of events on their calendar – attract more stars than the Davis Cup, and that is not great advertisement for a tournament with a 117-year legacy.

Why are the game’s best so reluctant to show up for Davis Cup duty?

The question has been asked regularly through the years, and the answers have virtually been the same. The scheduling is the main hindrance.

The first round of the World Group is held immediately after the Australian Open, the semi-finals in the week after the US Open and the final right after the ATP World Tour Finals.

“This format is not working for the top players because it’s just completely at the wrong time in the schedule,” Djokovic said last year, during the ATP World Tour Finals.

“Of course, they have to change. It’s a no-brainer.”

Last September, the ITF did announce a package of reforms that will be presented before the member nations at the AGM this August, and the proposals include reducing matches from best-of-five sets to best of three and staging the final at a neutral venue.

The players would certainly welcome the shorter format, but none believe the neutral venue proposal is a good idea.

“I sat in a room with all of the guys on the player council, and nobody was for the neutral venue,” Andy Murray said during the Australian Open.

“You’re taking away from the players the one thing that players love about Davis Cup, which is the home tie, the home crowd,” Djokovic added.

The neutral venue proposal, then, could be a further blow to the flailing status of the tournament.

With no top stars and no home fans, the atmosphere at Davis Cup matches could be as dreary as most ITF Circuit tournaments.

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