Davis Cup, not a complete make-over but a slight tweak!

This world wide tournament has been criticized from top to bottom, inside and outside. It has been around as long as the game has been popularized. Pretty much the same format has been in practice since the start of the event but tennis itself has changed quite a bit. Players, fans, and the so-called experts have contributed their two cents to how The Davis Cup can be changed and even though there are some great ideas out there why not just tweak it a bit? Davis Cup will start with the same number of teams, 16. The countries must be seeded from the beginning of the tournament according to ATP rankings. As the tournament continues the seeding can change according how those same players are playing on the regular tour. For example, Spain has an average ranking of #20 depending to the players on the squad while Argentina has an average ranking of #40. If they were playing each other, Spain will be the higher seed giving them home court advantage. Now, this method is used to place the teams at the beginning of the tournament but then it is a dynamic system that allows home court advantage going forward. The dates again are fixed as they are now but instead of having the tournament every year, a biannual template could be adopted. This will give the fans a bit more time to prepare and to become excited about the tournament itself. With all the ATP tournaments, 4 majors and a year ending championship it can be a lot for the average fan to follow. So what to do when The Davis Cup does come around and there are still as many tournaments? Top players are always looking for weeks off so this could be a week where another ATP 250 tournament could be played which is a lower level event. This will deter the top players to play and those not at the top of the rankings to have a chance to make some money and acquire points. Promotion is everything! These ties need to be held in big arenas in BIG cities. These countries have to showcase their biggest cities. Case in point, the United States has really dropped the ball on Davis Cup. Portland, Austin, Charlotte are great, beautiful cities but they are not the places that will bring the market for this great event. Why not host The Davis Cup in L.A., NYC, Chicago? Now this will bring not only the passionate fans, but tennis fans, and the tv coverage that will spread this great event like wildfire. Big cities demand big time coverage of any of their events. Especially a world wide event as The Davis Cup will now be promoted and showcased as it should be. So what have we done to The Davis Cup? Not all that much, just a tweak here and there. It will have the same amount of teams but now they are seeded according to the quality of their players. Also, the ATP schedule has been changed to give non-top players more opportunities and those who want/need a break to take it. In addition, making the tournament biannually can increase the want of the audience to view their players participate for their country. Lastly and most importantly, put these great ties in big market cities. Showcasing these events is key! If all matches were similar to the final in Seville this year, The Davis Cup will be an event that people would follow more closely. Bigger cities with huge markets are able to bring in those who are passionate and those who are casual watchers into this event giving it a bigger audience. There have been outstanding ideas to change the whole system but tweaking it might be a better way to go about changing The Davis Cup to the level it needs to reach!