'Unfair Treatment': Davis Cup Tournament Director Lopez On Awarding Points In Team Competitions

Davis Cup director Feliciano Lopez doesn't think that team competitions should be awarding points, and it's a stance he's held since his playing days.

His playing days are not far away as he only retired earlier this year , though he hasn't been a really active player for years. He's been part of the logistics side of tennis for a while and has served as the Madrid Open tournament director.

Now he's in charge of the Davis Cup, and as a player who both played and won the event, the Spaniard has some strong opinions on team events. One of those is certainly being against any kind of ATP points awarded in the competitions. It's something he's been against his whole career and he talked about it to Puntodebreak .

I don’t think team competitions should offer points, I have always been against this idea. Neither the Davis Cup nor any other competition. For example, I don’t think the United Cup should give points or the old ATP Cup.

It is unfair treatment compared to the other tournaments that are played that week, where you can never earn the same points as playing a team competition, where you can face a player who is #500 and win more points than another who wins that week against a top50 and gets 20 points. I am not in favor of points in team competitions.

Lopez makes an interesting point and he's right. The rosters are mostly lacking some of the best players in the world and you rarely see a country have two players in the Top 10. To him, giving points simply doesn't make sense and the competition doesn't even need it.

You cannot give the Davis Cup the points that you give in a Masters 1000 or a tournament of that level, it is not comparable, it does not make sense. This competition is a hundred years old (Davis Cup was founded in 1900), the best players in the world have played it, we must make people see what this tournament means.