Matt Brown: Davis Cup planned format change a dud

New Zealand's Rubin Statham versus Korea's Soon Woo Kwon in a Davis Cup tie. Photosport

The magic of the Davis Cup will be lost when the International Tennis Federation launches a new look format for one of sport's oldest international competitions.

The ITF has announced the Davis Cup will be transformed into an 18 nation World Cup-style tournament, named the World Cup of Tennis Finals.

It's hoped the event will feature the game's leading international stars and be played in one location over seven days at the end of each season. It would involve a round-robin stage with the top eight teams moving through to knockout rounds.

The proposal has been unanimously endorsed by the ITF board of directors and will be submitted for approval at the annual general meeting in August.

There is serious money behind the concept with the ITF announcing a 25-year partnership worth US $3 billion with investment group Kosmos to fund the tournament.

There will be no change to the Zonal ties featuring countries like New Zealand who now play best of three set rubbers over two days instead of three but keep the home and away format.

It's clear that Davis Cup needed to change or evolve but this is a step too far. Many of the world's top ranked players have skipped the competition in recent years. It takes up to four weeks on the calendar, there is no prize money and ranking points and at least twice a year is held immediately after Grand Slams.

There have been calls over the years from leading players to stage Davis Cup once every two years which might encourage more participation from some of the stars. But sadly those calls have fallen on deaf ears and while this format with big prize money will no doubt encourage players to play in a condensed competition, featuring two singles and one doubles rubber ties over best of three sets, one key element of Davis Cup will be lost.

Home and away ties are something unique in tennis. I was privileged to be in Harare in February 2000 when Zimbabwe hosted the USA. The Black brothers Bryon and Wayne took on Andre Agassi and Chris Woodruff for the Americans who came from 2-1 down to win 3-2 in one of the most incredible sporting atmospheres you could wish to experience.

That key element will be missing under this new format. The week long tournament will be just like other tour events, staged in one of the glamorous cities around the world. At the end of the season it may attract most of the top players, but it won't recreate the raucous atmosphere seen all around the world under the current format. 13 of the last 23 Davis Cup finals have been decided in the final singles rubber playing best of five sets.

Those epic finales such as France's mesmerising win over Sweden in Malmo in 1996 won't be recreated.