(Nice) The president of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) David Haggerty estimated Tuesday in Nice that the maligned sporting formula of the Davis Cup “worked” and that the tennis world was “united” behind the competition more than a century old.

The ITF decided in January to regain control of the organization of the event and to end the partnership with Kosmos, an investment group chaired by Spanish footballer Gerard Pique, launched in 2018 and which was initially to run on 25 years.

When Kosmos arrived, the sporting formula was turned upside down with the consent of the ITF. The traditional home or away games had been abandoned (except for the first round) in favor of phases played in one place. This new system has struggled to convince, despite several developments.

This year, after a first eliminatory round which was played at the beginning of February, 12 nations have qualified for a group stage which will be played from September 12 to 17 in four cities not yet known before the final phase from November 21 to 26 in Málaga (Spain).

“We have a model that works”, even if “we continue to work in order to strengthen the competition”, estimated Mr. Haggerty, present in Nice for the presentation of the Hopman Cup, which will take place there next July.

“The reason we changed the formula is that the old format didn’t work. Players could not commit to being present four weeks a year. So we’ve kept a bit of the tradition, with home or away games, like in the knockout stage in early February, and we’ve merged that into a new, more modern format,” Mr Haggerty added.

“The players really like” the Davis Cup, continued the American president of the ITF. “We are now working together with the ATP. The competition is part of the calendar and the Grand Slam tournaments have indicated that they believe in this event,” added Mr Haggerty.

According to him, “tennis is united” behind this competition of nations created in 1900.