LONDON – The top events of the Davis Cup and Fed Cup tennis team have been postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said on Friday.
The renewed 18-nation Davis Cup final, launched last year in Madrid, was scheduled to return to the Spanish capital in November, but will now take place 12 months later.
The women’s Fed Cup has also undergone a restructuring and the inaugural finals of the 12 nations should have been staged in Budapest in April. A year has also been postponed.
Professional tennis has been suspended since March and will not return until August.
The ITF has partnered with Kosmos, the investment firm of Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique, to renew the Davis Cup as a World Cup-style team tennis event. Rafa Nadal led Spain to the title last year, beating Canada in the final.
Kosmos has promised to invest $ 3 billion in 25 years.
“It is a great disappointment for all of us that the Davis Cup finals will not be held in 2020,” said Pique in a joint statement with ITF.
“We do not know how the situation will develop in each qualified nation, or whether the restrictions in Spain will remain sufficiently relaxed, therefore it is impossible to predict the situation in November and guarantee the safety of those traveling to Madrid.”
The same 18 nations that qualify for the finals will compete for next week’s event next year.
“This is a difficult decision to make, but providing an international team event on this scale while ensuring the health and safety of everyone involved poses too great a risk,” said ITF President David Haggerty.
When the Fed Cup final event was postponed to March, the possibility remained that it will take place later in the year. The ongoing pandemic has ruled it out.
The event was renewed to create a 12-week showdown of 12 nations boasting a prize pool of $ 18 million, an amount similar to the Davis Cup. Now it will take place from 13 to 18 April on indoor clay at the Laszlo Papp Arena in the Hungarian capital with the same nations involved.
Haggerty said that although he was “deplorable”, he was confident that Budapest would organize a “superb” event in 2021.
About 60 players, in addition to the support staff, would gather in Budapest for the finals, with others for the Davis Cup.
The ITF said that hosting fanless events was not considered “a desirable option”.
The women’s WTA Tour is scheduled to resume in Palermo, Italy on August 3, while the men’s ATP Tour will resume at the opening of Citi in Washington DC, also in August. (Report by Martyn Herman by Toby Davis)
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