New ITF Chief Executive Ross Hutchins is a firm believer that the current Davis Cup format is the right one, despite the criticism that comes even six years after the competition made a radical change.
When the ITF completely revamped the Davis Cup format in 2019, it drew some major backlash from players, past legends, but also tennis purists. At the time, the ITF defended their decision by explaining that more and more top players were avoiding the Davis Cup, so it had to find a way that would make the competition more appealing to the best in the game.
Since then, home and away ties have been returned in some capacity since there is the qualifying week at the start of the year. But nothing has been changed regarding the DC Finals format as the top eight teams gather at one place - it is Bologna this year - and battle it out for the main glory.
Last week, Alexander Zverev - who is representing Germany this week in Bologna - ripped the competition as "an exhibition tournament."
"It's is an exhibition tournament in a way that is called Davis Cup," Zverev said at the ATP Finals.
ITF Chief Executive Hutchins defends the Davis Cup format
"The nations are the ones that we also have to listen to and there's been huge support. More players have played this year than ever before ... a huge amount of nations are participating in this competition and therefore, we have to embrace that side of the thinking as well. We do have close relationships with the other governing bodies in tennis. We do have close relationships with players. We're willing to have the conversation across anything that comes to their minds," Hutchins told Reuters.
In the same interview, Hutchins insisted that the ITF is "always open to a conversation" if there needs to be one.
The 2025 Davis Cup Final 8 took several blows just before its start after Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti all withdrew late from the tournament.
Addressing the high-profile withdrawals, Hutchins claimed that they "did not dampen the enthusiasm" for the event.
