Gripping goodbye to tradition

Davis Cup serves up riveting reminder of old format's worth

ZADAR, Croatia - Fans banging drums and blowing trumpets for hours on end.

Colorful costumes. Chants more reminiscent of soccer games than tennis matches.

Plus, a series of marathon showdowns featuring constant momentum swings.

The atmosphere at the best-of-five semifinal series between Croatia and the United States over the weekend was a reminder of what makes the old Davis Cup format so attractive.

"Very few matches have more pressure than that," US captain Jim Courier said after Croatia's Borna Coric ground out a five-set win over Davis Cup rookie Frances Tiafoe in the fifth and deciding match on Sunday.

"Grand Slam finals might be the only thing that comes close to touching that," Courier added. "That's going to be a boost for Frances, long-term. He knows he can win in that environment."

Yet that environment won't be around at this stage next year.

Beginning in 2019, the top team event in men's tennis which started in 1900 will be decided by a season-ending, 18-team tournament at a neutral site.

The new format is designed to make it easier for top players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to include the Davis Cup in their busy schedules.

The 21-year-old Coric called his victory over Tiafoe "the most special moment of my whole life by far", but even he conceded that playing five sets of emotional tennis takes too much of a toll.

"From the players point of view, I think it's going to help us," Coric said.

"It's going to give us a little bit more time to recover after the tournaments. I know after I play a big tie, when I play two matches, especially, the next week I cannot play and I'm very tired so I cannot practice too much, either.

"But from a different point of view, I'm going to miss this for sure because this is really something special, especially in tennis," Coric added.

"We don't get this a lot. We don't play for a team. But I think we're going to see in a couple of years it's a good decision."

In a rematch of this year's World Cup soccer final, Croatia will visit defending champion France in the Nov 23-25 decider in Lille.

Under the new format, teams will still play a traditional home-and-away series one week in February to advance to the championship in November, replacing the current format that is played over four weekends throughout the year.

Players will compete for what the International Tennis Federation has said will rival Grand Slam prize money.

"The number one thing if I play next year is that I would miss playing those home ties," American doubles specialist Mike Bryan said. "Hearing the USA chants. It's just the excitement and the energy that brings. It's unlike any match on tour. Scheduling wise and from a fan's perspective, it might be easier to follow and easier on the players long-term. That's the only downside for me."

Next year, the finalists will be placed into six three-team groups for round-robin play, involving two singles matches and one doubles, all best-of-three sets instead of the current best-of-five format featuring four singles matches and one doubles contest.

The winners, along with the two teams with next best records, advance to the single-elimination quarterfinals.

The first championship will be held on an indoor hardcourt from Nov 18-24, 2019, in either Madrid or Lille.

The 40-year-old Bryan came out of Davis Cup retirement and helped spark a US comeback from 0-2 down by teaming with Ryan Harrison in a doubles victory on Saturday that was decided in a fifth-set tiebreaker over nearly five hours.

"These are really fun moments when you're playing on the road," Bryan said.

"It's exciting to battle a crowd like that. It's going to be different. It's going to be kind of a neutral place to play."

Courier said he hopes the Fed Cup, the women's version of the Davis Cup, joins in at some point, so men's and women's teams can compete in the same location.

"I think that's the best presentation of our sport," Courier said. "We see in the Grand Slams how much attention they get, because we have the men and the women.

"I think it would be wise for the ITF to look into that down the road."

AP