It remains to be seen whether Murray can continue to throw so much into Davis Cup next year when there remain such big ambitions in the coming few seasons, notably his campaign to reach No1 and to win in Australia after losing five finals in the last seven years.
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Winning the iconic 231-pound Davis Cup is one of the toughest tasks in tennis. Since then, we’ve had the Davis Cup ties here in Glasgow and they’ve been incredibly well attended.
Olympic and two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray is not overly enthusiastic about the possibility of a neutral venue for Davis Cup finals, but has backed proposals to shorten matches in the competition.
Argentina has been in the Davis Cup final on four occasions – in 1981, 2006, 2008 and 2011 – but has never lifted the trophy.
Now, he says his challenge is to maintain both fitness and momentum as he gears up for the final in Croatia, in November.
“This will make the appeal of tennis broad and wide”, said David Haggerty, president of the ITF.
“A key goal for the ITF and member nations is to introduce a 16-team World Group in Fed Cup by BNP Paribas to ensure more nations from around the world have the opportunity each year to become world champions”.
Under changes proposed by the Federation, cities could soon bid to stage the final of the event. Now age 35 and 31 respectively, they kept Switzerland in the World Group last autumn but opted out this year.
Asked about an ATP or WTA event in future, Murray said: “It would have to be indoors but it is possible if you can find the right facility to host it”.
‘A lot of players have spoken about that, maybe shortening the format, playing it over Saturday/Sunday, best of three sets.
Other proposals include reviewing the best-of-five-sets format now used in Davis Cup, with all changes needing to be approved at the ITF’s AGM in August 2017.
“Obviously the Davis Cup format, as it is, doesn’t work anymore”, Djokovic said.
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Led by Andy Murray, Britain won its first Davis Cup in 79 years in 2015 and lost in the semifinals against Argentina this year.
