ORLANDO, Fla. — The International Tennis Federation’s bid to radically revamp the Davis Cup competition was ratified on Thursday morning at its annual general meeting after months of debate and division over the proposal.
The changes received 71 percent of the votes, clearing the two-thirds majority required to pass.
While nearly every tennis stakeholder believes that the 118-year-old Davis Cup needs to evolve, this vote offered a chance for a wholesale restart, creating a format nearly unrecognizable from the current one. Instead of a series of matches scattered throughout the year around the world, the late rounds of the new competition would be held in one week, bringing 18 teams to one neutral site for round-robin and knockout rounds.