THE International Tennis Federation’s board of directors has endorsed plans to change Davis Cup matches from best-of-five sets to best-of-three.
The ITF has been looking at ways to make the competition more attractive to the leading players, who are sitting out ties in ever increasing numbers. Staging matches over two days instead of three, remains under discussion.
A statement from the ITF read: “All recommendations will be put to the ITF AGM in August 2017, with all changes requiring a formal vote of approval.”
There is likely to be little opposition to the change of format, but other proposals put forward by ITF president David Haggerty, who has made reforming the competition a focus since his appointment in September 2015, are more controversial.
Plans for the final to be staged at a neutral venue have been particularly contentious.
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