The Davis Cup remains one of the most prestigious and well-respected tournaments in the sport of tennis.
A total of 16 different countries have lifted the trophy during the competition’s 125-year history, including the United Kingdom, the USA, and Spain.
The tournament first began in 1900, and was last won by a Jannik Sinner-led Italian team.
Previously, the tournament had been contested by 18 nations across four weekends of the year, with each elimination round between two nations held in one of the countries. The fixtures were also best-of-five contests.
However, the tournament was revamped in 2019, creating a completely new format for the competition.
Patrick Mouratoglou calls for the ‘real’ Davis Cup to return
In 2019, the tournament was changed to a single-week event held in one location. A total of 18 countries would contest the tournament, split into six groups of three [round-robin format].
The six group winners and two lucky losers would advance to the quarter-finals. A best-of-three knockout format then took place to determine the winner, with each match being best of three sets, rather than best of five, as it was before 2019.
Changes were also made in 2024. Now there is a qualifying round for the finals, with seven home or away ties taking place. The winners of these ties, plus the hosts of the final stage, contest the finals.
Patrick Mouratoglou, who coached Serena Williams for a decade and has also worked with Holger Rune, has stated that he would like to see the tournament return to its pre-2019 format.
“We would love the real Davis Cup to come back. It was magical,” Mouratoglou said in an Instagram post.
“And the part that was really magical, is that we were playing in your own country, which brought an unbelievable amount of fans that were supporting the players from their country, because it’s a country-based competition.
“And I think for tennis, that was amazing. So if we could bring that back, that would be the best solution for the future of the Davis Cup.”
The 2025 Davis Cup Finals will take place from November 18 to 23 in Bologna, Italy.
The eight countries vying for the title are Italy, Spain, Czechia, Germany, Argentina, Austria, Belgium and France.
The last winner of the ‘old’ Davis Cup format
The last Davis Cup tournament to utilise the ‘old’ format was the 2018 edition of the competition.
That tournament was won by Croatia, who defeated France 3-1 in the final.
US Open champion Marin Cilic led the Croatian team, defeating Lucas Pouille to seal Croatia’s second Davis Cup title.
After securing the title, Cilic said: “It’s not every day that you become a world champion.
“For us it’s a dream come true, for this nation. You can see the fans are so passionate and they are here enjoying themselves. In Croatia it’s going to be incredible too.”
