World Cup of Tennis: Geneva is preferred venue for event in 2018
Geneva has been chosen by the International Tennis Federation as the preferred venue for the first World Cup of Tennis in 2018.
The combined event will include the finals of the Davis Cup and Fed Cup.
The hard court event would be held at the Palexpo convention centre for three years from November 2018.
“Change is needed to ensure that we maximise the full potential of these iconic and historic competitions,” said ITF president David Haggerty.
Geneva was chosen by the ITF board at its meeting in Frankfurt from a shortlist of six that also included Copenhagen (Denmark), Miami (USA), Istanbul (Turkey), Turin (Italy), and Wuhan (China).
The ITF AGM will be asked to approve the full reform package at its meeting in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in August 2017.
It is proposed initially that the season-ending event will run for three years and could also include the semi-finals of the Fed Cup, meaning the competition would expand from eight teams to 16.
“The creation of the World Cup of Tennis finals is at the heart of a series of reforms that represent the most significant changes in the history of Davis Cup and Fed Cup,” added Haggerty.
“We’ve consulted widely and listened carefully, and believe we will deliver an exceptional new event for fans, players and nations.”
Argentina are the Davis Cup holders and the Czech Republic won the Fed Cup in 2016.
Opposition to World Cup plans
The plans have been greeted with dismay by some tennis players, including Jamie Murray’s Brazilian doubles partner Bruno Soares and Australian world number 187 Sam Groth.
Soares tweeted that the “ITF itself is slowly killing the competition”, while Groth said the ITF “had lost the plot”.