MELBOURNE: Andy Murray and Kei Nishikori said the Davis Cup badly needed an overhaul on Tuesday as concerns grow over its ability to attract top players.
\nTop-ranked Murray said talks were underway in the ATP Player Council to make the event more attractive, with its format and scheduling both in the firing line.
\nNishikori said he was skipping Japan\u00a0s upcoming Davis Cup tie, even though it is in Tokyo, because he already has a packed playing schedule.
\n“Everyone seems to be in agreement that the format needs to change,” said Murray, who led Britain to the Davis Cup title in 2015.
\n“I do think it needs to change. If the top players aren\u00a0t playing, the event loses value,” he added.
\nMurray said there was clear opposition to the idea of holding the final at a neutral venue, but that little else had been agreed.
\nOther suggestions include reducing matches from five sets to three and playing ties on Saturday and Sunday only, rather than Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
\n“We chatted about a lot of different changes. The one thing that we all agreed upon was that the neutral venue is not right,” Murray said.
\nTies for the Davis Cup, billed as the \u00a0World Cup of tennis\u00a0, are spread across the year and teams that reach the final will have played four weekends at venues around th world.
\n“I hope they can make some changes. Yeah, right now I think it\u00a0s way too much to play three times or even if you play final, maybe four times,” Nishikori said.
\n“I think that has to change, for sure, to make it shorter. I think all the players — I don\u00a0t know if all, but I think most of them are hoping to change.”
\nNishikori has pulled out of Japan\u00a0s Davis Cup tie against France in Tokyo the week after the Australian Open, blaming the scheduling of the teams event.
\n“I\u00a0m not playing because of the schedule, it\u00a0s gonna be too tight,” Nishikori said.
\n“Going to South America, Rio and Buenos Aires, and if I play Davis Cup, that\u00a0s way too much for my body and Indian Wells and Miami (tournaments) are coming up after. So I just decided not to play.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MELBOURNE: Andy Murray and Kei Nishikori said the Davis Cup badly needed an overhaul on Tuesday as concerns grow over its ability to attract top players. Top-ranked Murray said talks were underway in the ATP Player Council to make the event more attractive, with its format and scheduling both in the firing line. Nishikori said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n