Piqué: Federer Views Davis Cup As Competitor

Roger Federer hasn't exactly enthusiastically embraced the new World Cup-style Davis Cup finals.Gerard Piqué says that's because the 20-time Grand Slam champion views the new Davis Cup as a competitor to his own Laver Cup.Watch: 5 Men Who Can Win Maiden MajorFormer FC Barcelona star Piqué heads investment group Kosmos, which signed a 25-year, $3 billion deal with the ITF to sponsor the new 18-team, year-end World Cup-style Davis Cup final.Piqué says he has reached out to Federer's agent, Tony Godsick, about Federer playing Davis Cup in the future and believes the Swiss superstar sees Davis Cup as a threat to Laver Cup."We always try to respect the steps to follow to communicate with him," Piqué told SER. "We talked to his agent, he was very happy, he sent a letter to Roger saying what we wanted."So, then I was surprised by the statements he made. They have the Laver Cup and can see the Davis as a competitor to their competition."The new Davis Cup finals will be staged at Madrid's Caja Magica, home of the Madrid Masters, starting on November 18th.When the deal to restructure Davis Cup with the most radical changes in the international team competition's 119-year history was announced, some players, including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Marin Cilic, supported the change.Federer was quoted by Swiss media as dissenting.“For us tennis players it’s a bit strange to see a soccer player come into our world," Federer said. "He should be careful. The Davis Cup should not become the Piqué Cup”

Piqué and the ITF aim to expand the Davis Cup finals to a 24-team, two-week tournament and eventually try to move its spot in the schedule."It is a long-term project," Piqué told SER. "It's the tennis world cup and the idea is, over time, to go to a two-week competition and 24 teams."The ITF says its new deal with Kosmos will create a new player prize fund of $20 million, "elevating Davis Cup to Grand Slam prize money levels" and touts the partnership as creating "historic levels of investment into the global development of tennis through the ITF and its 210-member National Associations."Switzerland did not qualify for this month's Davis Cup finals and Federer withdrew from the new ATP Cup, which will be staged in Australia in January.Both Djokovic and former No. 1 Andy Murray have urged authorities to try to combine the Davis Cup and ATP Cup citing their close proximity in an already crowded calendar as reasons the two competitions should be combined into one team event.Photo credit: Christopher Levy]]>