"You have literally killed one of the pillars of tennis" - Former player lashes out at Gerard Pique's response to Stan Wawrinka over Davis Cup issues

Julien Benneteau recently took to social media to support Stan Wawrinka against Gerard Pique, who had previously partnered with the ITF to overhaul the Davis Cup format.

On Tuesday, September 12, Wawrinka complained about the lack of spectators during the World Group fixture between his home country Switzerland and France in Manchester, UK. Wawrinka also tagged Pique in his post on X (formerly Twitter).

"Thank you @3gerardpique @ITFTennis! @DavisCup France vs Switzerland in Manchester lol," Stan Wawrinka wrote.

The former FC Barcelona defender responded a few hours later, posting last year's Group Stage attendance figures. Pique seemed to be suggesting that the Davis Cup Finals attracted large audiences during his company Kosmos Group's tenure with the ITF, and that the lack of crowd in 2023 was an exception.

The Spaniard's post, however, was criticized by French former tennis player Julien Benneteau. The Frenchman accused Pique of "killing one of the pillars of tennis," likely alluding to how the Kosmos owner had overhauled the 118-year-old best-of-five format of the Davis Cup.

"How do you dare to talk ??? You have literally killed one of the pillars of Tennis with the @ITFTennis. So please at least shut the f*** up," Benneteau wrote in a reply to Pique.

Stan Wawrinka replied to Gerard Pique after losing his singles match during Switzerland vs France Davis Cup Group Stage tie

Stan Wawrinka hits a forehand against Ugo Humbert during the 2023 Davis Cup Finals Group Stage

Stan Wawrinka, who lost his singles match against France's Ugo Humbert during the tie, also replied to Pique's post later. He said:

"After a bad day on court this at least made me laugh! It would be great to understand more if it was such a success last year, why the 25 years deal stopped after 5 years..."

Wawrinka later teamed up with Marc-Andrea Huesler against France's Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the doubles fixture, but they lost that match too. Adrian Mannarino had earlier defeated Dominic Stricker to get France's Davis Cup campaign off to a scintillating start.

For the uninitiated, the ITF struck a 25-year partnership with Kosmos in 2018 to try and make the Davis Cup more popular across the world. Kosmos, a sports and investment company, subsequently overhauled the old best-of-five format, which required the matches to take place over an entire season. The revamped format reduced the matches to best-of-three.

The ITF, however, were apparently not impressed with the first few editions of the revamped event. They ended the Davis Cup partnership with the Pique-owned company earlier this year.

The group stage of the Davis Cup Finals, which involves two singles matches and one doubles match, will run from 12 to 19 September this year. The winning teams will then compete in a knockout draw in Malaga, Spain, from 21 to 26 November.