| QUOTE (Awesome_Agassi @ Apr 13 2007, 04:29 PM) |
| Davis Cup could affect rankings Davis Cup wins could boost players' world rankings in the future, under proposals being discussed by the bodies that govern world and men's tennis. Francesco Ricci Bitti, the president of the ITF, told BBC Sport: "The ITF is holding discussions with the ATP about future dates for Davis Cup. "Part of this has been a consideration to offer points for the Davis Cup." Ricci Bitti added that he would resist calls for the current structure of the Davis Cup to be changed. "I believe in the current format," said Ricci Bitti. "When, mainly in the United States, some people say 'we have to change the format', I never heard anybody coming up with a really interesting alternative. "We are ready to listen, but the Davis Cup has both a sport value and a financial value. "Nobody has come up with an attractive proposal on both sides. The 'home and away' beauty of the competition is very important." However, Ricci Bitti said the ITF was developing a "surface rating system" that would prevent teams from choosing "extreme surface conditions" for their home ties. "This is being developed by the ITF science and technical department in a bid to eliminate extreme surface conditions in the Davis Cup and Fed Cup," he said. "Although host nations can continue to choose the surface, we want to ensure it is as fair as possible." http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/6551847.stm What a terrible idea. Introducing rankings points at the Davis Cup would penalise players from 'lesser nations which not much depth like Baghdatis and Niemenen from Cyprus and Finland respectively. This idea also penalises players from countries that have a lot of depth, like Spain and Russia. ' |