"Whoever was responsible at the ITF for the complete failure of the Davis Cup experiment shouldn’t be in their roles anymore" - John Millman

Australian tennis player John Millman recently questioned the ITF's business operations that led to the Davis Cup not getting enough attention and hype from fans.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Stan Wawrinka reignited the discourse surrounding the annual team event as he complained about the lack of spectators at a group stage tie between Switzerland and France.

He subsequently accused the ITF, which organizes the competition, of paying people to attend matches and support various nations.

John Millman was also unhappy with the controversy surrounding the Davis Cup Finals group stage matches this week. Replying to Wawrinka's post, Millman berated the officials responsible for the runnings of the team event, going as far as to call for resignations.

"Whoever was responsible at the ITF for the complete failure of the Davis Cup experiment shouldn’t be in their roles anymore. Absolute disaster class," he wrote on social media.

The 34-year-old then waxed lyrical about the Davis Cup. He said that the event was always inclusive of fans all around the world, seemingly disapproving of the current format which requires the matches to take place in a few select cities.

"Davis Cup was always a competition for the fans. Taking tennis to all parts of the world so people could watch in their backyard," the Aussie added.

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ITF to vote for new leadership later this month, will hopefully help transform Davis Cup's image

Novak Djokovic hits a forehand during Serbia vs Spain group stage tie

The ITF will be voting a new president and board of directors at their annual general meeting in Cancun, Mexico on September 24. They hope the new leadership will provide solutions for the decline in the popularity of the historical team event.

The ITF struck a 25-year partnership with Kosmos, a sports and investment company, in the year 2018 to make the Davis Cup more popular among the masses.

The Gerard Pique-owned company subsequently overhauled the old best-of-five format, which required the matches to take place over an entire season. The revamped format would reduce the matches to best-of-three, requiring the national teams to compete at only a select few locations.

This move, however, made devout tennis fans lose interest in the competition. The global tennis body, however, soon realized that the 123-year-old event was not prospering under Kosmos' leadership, deciding to prematurely end its partnership with Pique's company earlier this year.