Europe 1 with AFP 9:49 p.m., January 12, 2023
The partnership between the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the company Kosmos ended this Thursday evening.
The Kosmos investment group, chaired by former footballer Gerard Piqué, proposed a widely revisited - and much criticized - formula for team competition.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has decided to regain control of the organization of the Davis Cup and to end the partnership with Kosmos initiated in 2018, it announced Thursday in a press release to AFP.
“The ITF confirms that its partnership with Kosmos Tennis for the Davis Cup ends in its fifth year,” writes the ITF.
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The investment group Kosmos, chaired by former Spanish footballer Gerard Pique, has been offering a largely revamped formula for the more than 100-year-old team competition since its 2019 edition. "The ITF has ensured that financial risks are covered and , as the custodian of the competition, we will organize the qualifiers and the final stages of the 2023 edition as planned, with the eight-team final stage taking place in Malaga, Spain, in November. however.
Absence of financial agreement
A source familiar with the matter explains that the ITF and Kosmos have failed to reach a financial agreement.
Since its radical reform, and the abandonment in particular of the popular formula of home and away matches (except the first round) and matches in five sets, the redesigned Davis Cup was struggling to convince.
The president of the French Tennis Federation Gilles Moretton welcomed this decision.
"I have always fought against this new format of the Davis Cup, an institution in our sport. It is a great victory for tennis," he wrote in a message sent to several media including AFP.
However, the ITF has not decided at this stage on the Davis Cup formula beyond the 2023 edition.