In May, Chris Kermode, the executive chairman and president of the ATP Tour, told the BBC it would be “insane” to have two competing annual men’s team events within six weeks of each other.
Well, guess what?
Collective insanity appears to be precisely where tennis is heading after Thursday’s decision to approve a new 18-nation, $20 million Davis Cup event that would end the season in November 2019.
If Kermode and the men’s tour stick to their announced plan for a World Team Cup, the Davis Cup would be followed in January 2020 — or even December 2019 — by a 24-nation, $15 million team event that would open the season in Australia.