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The Davis Cup will be revamped to create a
tennis World Cup after the International Tennis Federation (ITF)
signed a 25-year $3 billion deal with Kosmos where the home-away
system will be replaced by an 18-team tournament played over a
week in Madrid.
The new format will have the usual five sets reduced to three
and Hewitt believes it was "ridiculous" to make so many changes
to the sport's premier international tournament.
"He (Pique) knows nothing about tennis. It'd be like me asking
to change things for the Champions League," Hewitt told
reporters ahead of Australia's Davis Cup qualifier against
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"The two biggest points of difference were, one, the home and
away aspect of it and, secondly, was the best of five sets. If
you look at the pinnacle of our sport, which are the four
majors, they're best of five sets."
Former world number one Hewitt is also not in favor of playing
the entire tournament at a single venue, saying it was an idea
that would not work in tennis.
"Having it at one place I think is ridiculous, I don't think
many of the top players will play," he added. "They're basically
running the ITF and a soccer league is the main sponsor of the
Davis Cup."
Australia play their Davis Cup qualifier against
Bosnia-Herzegovina in Adelaide on Friday and Saturday.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Amlan
Chakraborty)
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