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Influential billionaire slams tennis hierarchy and accuses them of selling a prized asset for financial gain only


Ion Tiriac is a former top 10 tennis player who has made a business career worth $billions and was recently named as one of the greatest ever Romanians. He now thinks that the administrators of global tennis have sold two of their prized assets purely for financial gain

 

Ion Tiriac has blasted the President of the International Tennis Federation in a damning letter that highlights what he perceives as the negative impact of the ITF’s decision to change the structure of the Davis Cup and Federation Cup.

The ITF has already entered into a long term partnership with the commercial group Kosmos to completely restructure the Davis Cup and now they’ve announced similar changes to the Federation Cup. The Davis Cup and Federation Cup are the main team competitions in tennis where countries compete against each other and are the equivalent of football’s World Cup.

In Tiriac’s strongly worded letter he said that, “I would like to put you on notice that I am against the system you intend to apply for the Federation Cup for reasons that pertain to a lack of common sense and the demise of the oldest and most prestigious tradition in tennis.”

“The same applies to the Davis Cup. It’s inconceivable that you’ve approved such a system. It’s true that the sport has evolved but this doesn’t justify the sale and demise of this impressive asset for financial reasons only.”

“I strongly believe that many players will not accept to play in this format and that the nationalist glamour has been lost forever”

You can read Tiriac’s letter in full here:

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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.