Zverev Hits Out At Federations Amid Hewitt Complaints About Davis Cup Format

Alexander Zverev backed former ATP player Lleyton Hewitt after the Australian criticized the Davis Cup format following the Davis Cup final.

Lleyton Hewitt has been quite open about his distaste for the current Davis Cup format, criticizing it multiple times. He did it again after the Davis Cup Finals, where Italy beat Australia in two matches.

As somebody who played in the old format in the Rod Laver Arena, Hewitt can't understand the reasoning for this current one. There are no home and away legs, which basically kills the atmosphere in 90 % of these ties, which goes against the essence of the competition.

Zverev has held similar views ever since the format changed, even going as far as refusing to play for Germany in a competition that wasn't the Davis Cup anymore.

He ultimately played but he wasn't particularly happy with it and he's not the only one. The most baffling thing about the chance was that nobody from the tennis world backed it.

The players don't like it, the coaches don't like it, but here we are. Zverev reacted to Hewitt's comments on social media, calling on governing bodies to listen to former and current players.

It's widely known that players weren't consulted about these changes, which some of the biggest names like Novak Djokovic confirmed.

When [are] the sport of tennis and the federations of our sport finally going to listen to us players and even more importantly to the living legends of our sport who used to give their absolute everything for the Davis cup and what it used to stand for.

Zverev is right, and there needs to be more dialogue, but don't hope it will happen. There is pressure to revert it back to its original format, but we're stuck with this one until that happens. As Zverev said, bring back the real Davis Cup.

The Davis cup is one of the most historic events in not only tennis but sports in general. Bring back the real Davis cup.