Sam Querrey thinks Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti's absence from this year's Davis Cup Final 8 in Bologna tells you everything you need to know about the competition's "broken format."
After the Davis Cup Final 8 was hosted in Malaga, Spain, in the last couple of years, it switched to Bologna, Italy, this year. Since Italy routinely reached the Final 8, the expectation was that world No. 2 Sinner and eighth-ranked Musetti would compete. But then, four-time Grand Slam champion Sinner withdrew from the event because he needed rest after a long and demanding season, while Musetti cited physical and family reasons for his move.
However, Italy was not the only nation that was hit by brutal news just before the start of the Davis Cup Final 8 as world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz also pulled out from representing Spain after contracting a hamstring injury during the ATP Finals.
ADVERTISEMENT
Querrey: Sinner and Musetti not playing the DC in Bologna goes to show you the former is pretty broken
"Musetti not playing. It's in Italy, in Bologna, and Sinner and Musetti are not playing. That just goes to show you the format is pretty broken, that their top two players arent playing this week in Italy," former 10-time ATP champion Querrey stated on the Nothing Major Show.
Former three-time Grand Slam semifinalist John Isner, who is also one of the hosts of the podcast, fully agreed with Querrey's take.
"If I asked you right now to name the eight countries in the Davis Cup, you could probably guess four, but we wouldnt really know. I'd have to go look, you have to see which guys are even playing. The guys just don't care. Theyve got to do it every other year. Once a year every other year," Isner said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Meanwhile, when asked to address the several high-profile withdrawals from this year's Davis Cup Final 8, the ITF authorities insisted that they still thought there wasn't anything wrong with the competition's format.
