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DAVIS CUP FINALS: RUSSIA v U.S.A.December 2, 2007Francesco Ricci BittiPORTLAND, OREGON FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: We can start by saying first of all thanks. It's not really a formal press conference. It's just that we are available, in the final traditionally, but now also at the other ties, to answer questions to the press of the two countries and the international press that is attending the final. So before taking your questions, I want to make some comments, some consideration at the end of this season of Davis Cup. First of all, we are very happy about the player participation. We had 18 of the 20 players. Basically it's a very good rate. The calendar, as you know, we are in ongoing discussion for the calendar since 2009 when the ATP will reorganize or restructure the calendar, and the WTA. So we are in negotiations, long-standing negotiations, but I think we are close to a sort of agreement. I cannot anticipate anything, but I believe the beginning of next year we will announce this agreement that is based on, as you can imagine, dates of Davis Cup included in the new calendar. About the format, we are basically very happy about the format. But we are open, through all our procedures, and these countries have debated a lot this matter. But I believe, to make our comments short, we believe that each solution has its pros and cons. But the solution that we have now, first is a traditional one, and second has much more pros for the majority of the countries. We have to listen to the majority of the countries, because we are an organization of 205 countries, about 140 taking part in the Davis Cup every year. So we have a Davis Cup Committee, we have the board, we have the annual general meeting, we have a process. We are always able to analyze. But I want to remind that to consider change, basic change, you need two basic problems to be solved. The first one is the financial viability, and the second one is the calendar viability. So any good idea should be brought forward, including some solution for these problems, which is not an easy one. Attendance, again, is very good. For the seventh year, we are much over 500,000 spectators. I'm talking only on the total attendance in the World Group ties, with very significant attendance during the September week. In some countries like Czech Republic or Serbia they had 60,000. TV, again, very good. For the final, we have 28 countries live and some countries delayed. We have a territory coverage of 167 countries, more or less, with some view of the Davis Cup final. The website, I don't know the figures, but I am confident that it will be a very good figure. Barbara, if you have any figures updated, I think the prospects of are very positive. BARBARA TRAVERS: Yes. We had 600,000 page views in one day, which is quite significant. FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: Then the sponsorship, as you know, we have a title sponsor, BNP Paribas. We have many international sponsors, very significant. Adecco, we have a renewal. The only good news, recent news, is a renewal, an extension of four years with Hugo Boss through 2012. This means that in 2008 we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the cooperation with Hugo Boss. That means that we will reach 23 years of cooperation with this company. But we are used to long-standing cooperation and partnership. So it's not a surprise, but it's a very positive sign. And the last comment I want to do, just to anticipate questions, is the Hawk-Eye. As you know, we have a protocol that provides unlimited application. We respect all the solutions. We have nothing against any solution. The US Open one, the Wimbledon one. Our perspective is that a tool, when we start the first test of Hawk-Eye that was made by the ITF at the Hopman Cup in 2005, we felt that the Hawk-Eye should help us to be an officiating tool. That means to repeat the condition of the clay court. So our position is that the unlimited is the solution that really interprets this perspective. That means there is other perspectives, more entertainment oriented, and we respect them. But we believe even the evidence of these days in Davis Cup final with the Hawk-Eye as an additional function, one of crowd control, that is very, very important. We believe looking at the statistics of these days, too, we can go to a common protocol with all the bodies involved in professional tennis. We are not against having a common protocol, but for the moment, this is our perspective. These are my comments and my considerations. So, please, if you have some questions. BARBARA TRAVERS: Questions. Q. I know it doesn't happen very often, but we've had a situation with the culmination of the Davis Cup is over before the last day. Is there any discussion in the ITF about possible changes of format so that you're guaranteed to have it live on the final day? FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: There have been many discussions about that during the year, but I have to say this is very rare. You have to compliment the United States in this case. But since I am president, it's the first time, just to give you an idea. I am president from '99. So it's the first time that it is 3-Love for the final. There have been many considerations on this matter. But in the end we felt the actual solution, with some complication like this one of the last day with two dead rubbers, is the best solution, or the less worse. Q. With the talent available to the United States team over the past 15 years or so, are you surprised that they did not win more Davis Cups, with players like Sampras, Agassi, Courier? FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: The United States won a lot of Davis Cups in general. 32, the one of this weekend, is a big number, if you consider we have played about 100 Davis Cups. I believe the first statement that I could do is that tennis is much more competitive, so it's much more competitive than it was. Many more countries have competitive players. I believe what has to be really given credit to the United States, this generation, they've been very committed. But the Davis Cup, you have to play outside, you have to play on different surfaces, so is not so easy anymore to win with continuity. So I believe that the USA, if this is one reason they deserve greatly to have won, is because this generation of players have been very committed with Davis Cup. But the countries competitive in Davis Cup are more and more. Q. You mentioned Hawk-Eye. A couple of the players suggested they're not used to the fact that you have the unlimited challenges or reviews. Do you think you'll maintain that stance of the unlimited, or do you think that will be reviewed? FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: Very simple. I tried to explain the perspective, our perspective, as an officiating tool. But I always said that the ITF is ready to join the other bodies if we find a common agreement to have only one protocol. I hope it's clear. And I believe that a good compromise could be also three. Because the statistics say in the worst case we are between two and three per set. I think it makes a lot of sense. Q. From your position as president of the ITF, could you give an assessment of tennis worldwide? We keep hearing in the United States how we're down, yet the rest of the world is... Give me your assessment. FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: The figures of participation are good, even in the United States. Even after a difficult period of time, they are back in the upwards direction, so it's very good. If you want me to do an assessment in a regional way, we have tremendous growth in Asia. A better solidification of the organization in South America. South America was always very good in top players, but the organization was medium or poor. So we have an increase in organization. The organization brings always then some better players. We have Africa, that is a problem for financial reasons. We are spending money, investing money to keep up. But you can imagine on a continent like Africa, the priority cannot be tennis, where the food is the priority. But we've worked. The African Confederation is efficient, more than in the past. Then we with have the country, developed countries. We have tremendous growth in eastern Europe. Western Europe and Australia are countries where there are positive signs in terms of participation in recent years, after some stability. But it was to me stability and participation was expected. Tennis, in what we call the developed area, was an exclusive sport up to the '60s, more or less, and then it became popular. In this period of time, tennis has gone up like that. It's normal. Now we have a sort of small increase again. It's a very good sign. So I believe tennis is a very good sport. In terms of the professional level, we are lucky because we have a very good set of new players on the men's side, from many countries, like Djokovic, Murray. I'm not talking only about the top, Nadal, Djokovic and Federer. Now Djokovic can join this family. But I think Murray, Baghdatis, Berdych. We have many, many very good players. This brings a lot of interest. The same on the ladies' side. I would mention the two Serbian girls, Vaidisova. Players that are not yet top players, but very, very good players. This, again, brings a great interest. The calendar is very tough. You cannot have a continuous player commitment. And then to have many of these with great exposure. So I'm very optimistic about our sport. Q. This has been brought up over the years, but has there ever been a consideration of skipping Davis Cup and Fed Cup during the Olympic year? FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: No, because I believe the most complicated area in tennis, professional tennis, is the calendar. So any change for one year brings a lot of complication. We know how much we struggle to adjust the calendar in the Olympic year just for the Olympic time. So this is my view now, but nothing is excluded. I believe that it doesn't bring a lot for one year, because tennis is a very yearly calendar. So each element that brings a difference between the years is a huge complication. Q. What would you say about the possibility of having the Davis Cup played every other year over a one- or two-month period, as has been suggested by some U.S. team members? FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: We completely disagree for many reasons. As I said, the first reason is that the calendar in tennis is an annual calendar. The second reason is that the people that support this idea of every other year normally compare with team sport. We are very deep in Europe with team sport, like soccer is the most internationally popular. And the average time that the team plays every year in soccer, for instance, for the World Championship, is six times. What we ask our team is to play twice a year, no more than that. So it's not true also in the sense of commitment of the team, the commitment of a team in football or soccer, as you say in this country soccer, is six times a year for the qualifying. The World Cup is every four years, but the commitment of the team is much bigger than the commitment of the team in Davis Cup, so this is not a fair comparison. There are many more, but these are the two elements that I have to answer you. Q. Are you saying if there is going to be a reduction in the calendar, which most people agree is too long, it should come from the ATP side then, not from Davis Cup? FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: If you want me to make a comment, I think it is easier to make a reduction when you have 45 weeks than when you have four or three weeks. I think. This is a business, so I think the reduction. I am not a great fan of the reduction in general of the shortening of the season. These are more trendy concepts. The players, first of all, if you shorten the season, the exhibitions start the day after, as you see, even if the season is long. And I don't think the exhibition in wide terms are useful to the credibility of the game in general. This is by definition. Perhaps in some area it's acceptable, because in some areas where you don't have top tennis it could be used to have some champions to play. But in general, they're not positive. The second comment that I would like to do on that is that people talk always about too many tournaments. But the concept is very different. There are too many tournaments for the players that are going to the Sunday. But for the players that lose on Monday, and there are many, the majority, perhaps it's different. Nobody does this consideration. They say, We have 50 weeks. This is tough for Federer, perhaps, or for Nadal. It's clear they have to choose a schedule that is compatible with their possibility. We have to accept that. But don't talk about that for all the players, because there are many players that on Monday they are free. Or what we call in the Grand. Slam, we have many players that are first-week players. So these are not so busy as the other ones. The number of tournaments is relative to what the level of the player is. Q. There has been all this talk about the supposed off-season. Do you think there's any merit in maybe, if you use the term "off-season," of having it twice? Maybe middle of the year you have a three-week break and continue with the rest of the circuit? Do you think there's merit in that? FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: There are always merit in this kind of consideration. WTA has considered very deeply this matter that you mention, but then they have not been able to deliver what was the aim. So that means that there is some merit, but the problem is feasibility. Q. Did you support when Roland Garros went to 15 days? Would you support if Australia, the US Open, probably not Wimbledon, but the other Grand Slams wanted to expand more into the weekend before? FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: I think this is not in -- generally if you play two, three matches the first day, where all the Grand Slams have already activities, promotional, kids, is not a great deal. But if they would expand more, I would not think it is a good idea in front of the other tournaments. So having six match like Roland Garros the first day where the players are all there, I don't think this destroys the situation. I believe the Grand Slam should not go too far on this idea. This is my view, but it is the view of the fans of tennis. Q. When you mention the calendar for 2009, that hopefully we'll have an idea early in the year, is there any indication as to how early in the year? Do you think we will know during the Australian Open? Will it be in the first quarter of the year? FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: Surely the first part of the year. The content of the agreement is more or less agreed, but there are many more details. I believe when you have this agreement, you have to talk when they are signed. Basically we are in agreement. So if we are in agreement, it's a matter of some people working on the formal part, and my hope is Australian Open, if not immediately after, a little bit later. As soon as we can, the better it is for everybody. BARBARA TRAVERS: Thank you, Francesco. FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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