Gerard Piqué took stock of his new Davis Cup, just before the final. The Barca central and president of the Kosmos Group, organizer of the tournament, pointed out the possibility of having a fourth track by 2020, and even starting the conference earlier and that there is less rest between the individual and the doubles match, so that the games do not end late in the morning as has happened in this edition.

At a press conference, after the draw for the Davis Cup rankings, which was also attended by American David Haggerty , president of the International Tennis Federation, it was reported that the venue for 2021 will be communicated in a few months. "There are offers from Asia and North and South America, and even from Madrid, which he wants to repeat," Piqué said.

Conversations with the ATP for a super tournament

Piqué also considered that it is necessary to reach an agreement with the ATP to create a super tournament, with two weeks, that unifies the competitions of both organizations, the ATP Cup and the Davis Cup, and that shortly they would sit with them to try to solve it .

"ITF and Kosmos are really open to sit down with the ATP and try to reach an agreement, to make a unique and super two-week event and try to find the best part of the calendar," he said.

"I think that during this week, Novak and Rafa, number one and two in the world, have expressed that they want the same thing, they want only one event, and if possible, put it in September for two weeks. And this is something that we wanted since the first day. It is the best for tennis. It makes no sense to have two different competitions that are very similar right now, "he continued.

"Yes, this is something that is on the table. In the last year, we have tried to sit down with the ATP, obviously the situation with the previous president was not ideal for sitting and trying to reach an agreement. Now there will be some changes , so we are waiting for that so we can sit down again, "he said.

"You can't plan everything perfectly"

"Overall it has been a unique event, and we are very happy from both Kosmos and the FIT," said Piqué. "The issue of schedules is going to work but we must understand that we have only one week. All players will say that they have had a very pleasant experience, and that without them the Davis Cup does not have the importance it has," he continued.

"I think it's the most positive part. It's the first time we do it. We knew it was going to happen. You can't plan everything perfectly," admitted the FC Barcelona player.

"You have to understand that it is the first year and not everyone knew what to do and how to go. It is true that some tracks were not full, but people from all countries that have competed have come. We will try to attract more people." he added. "There are many positive things but I am sure that next year we will improve," Piqué settled.

"The calendar is the challenge"

Haggerty recalled that the history of this competition is 119 years, and that they were proud of it, but advocated that the future will be even better. "The Davis Cup occupies a very important place in tennis and on the calendar. The calendar is the challenge. I mean, it always has been. But once again, we can only control what we can control, and that is the Davis Cup And we are doing the best we can, "he said

"We will sit down again with the other tennis organizations, but I cannot make any promise about what could happen with other events," he said in clear reference to the Laver Cup, which occupies precisely the week that the unified super event could have.

The Tennis World Cup together, in the future

Haggerty also addressed the issue of the players and the creation of a tournament similar to the ATP Finals. "We, the ITF, have talked about a mixed team competition. We believe that having men and women together would make sense," he said.

"We recently announced, as you know, that the Federation Cup Finals will take place in Budapest over the next three years from April 2020. In the long term, it would be common sense to have a combined competition, our Davis Cup and our Cup Federation, like the Tennis World Cup together, "he continued.

"But I think we have to go step by step because it requires a lot of stakeholders to make a change like this. But it could be great for this sport," Haggerty added.

"If Argentina had won, Messi would be here"

Piqué also referred to the follow-up that his teammate at Barcelona Leo Messi has made of Argentina this week. "On Friday we were at the hotel and we followed the tie (Spain-Argentina) with him, and of course if Argentina had qualified Leo would have been here. He likes tennis a lot, supports his country and feels that Argentina has not qualified ", said.

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