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DAVIS CUP BY BNP PARIBAS WORLD GROUP FINAL: FRANCE v SERBIA

December 5, 2010

Francesco Ricci Bitti

BELGRADE, SERBIA

THE MODERATOR: I'd like to introduce the president of the ITF Francesco Ricci Bitti and the executive vice president Juan Margets.
FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: As a tradition, on the Sunday morning of the final of Davis Cup, we call this meeting with the press that are interested to know the first remarks and the comments about the final. So I will be very short because I prefer to answer your questions, if there are some questions.
But I would like to say we are very, very happy with this great final. It is an affirmation of the 'home-and-away' format, in our opinion - I think also in your opinion. I believe this has to be reinstated.
I would like to thank the Serbian Federation. The lead time to the final is only a few months. They're not a big Federation. They're a young country. They have done surely a great job in a very professional way.
I want to repeat what is the position of the ITF as a proposal, as an idea. We want to repeat again that our mission is not to be a promotor of tennis. We try to promote at best the competitions we own: Fed Cup, Davis Cup, so on. But our mission is to promote and develop the game. This is the reason that we are strongly defending the home-and-away, the annual format, and all the systems that is today in place. This doesn't mean that we are not listening to improve year by year our competition.
I would say also we have to register a great, very positive financial situation after a terrible time and economic situation in the world. We have a great return of interest. We have just signed here, as you know, a new agreement with a sponsor that was with us. So when a sponsor is coming back, it's a great sign. It means that they choose our sport, like Adecco.
We have renewed in the last month the agreement with our title sponsor, BNP Paribas, extended to 2016, the support of Davis Cup. And we have many other agreements with other sponsors, multi-year agreements, not short agreements: Rolex, HP, and so on.
I want to say also for the people that are not aware, sometimes the people say that the ITF is not listening to the players. We all listen to the players. I would say that we change even the date to listen to the players. Sometimes the players forget, but we change the date to accommodate better the players.
We introduced the court pace rating. That is a small thing, but a very important change in order to narrow the gap and the speed of the surface where we play and to limit the advantage of the hosting country.
We introduced the Hawk-Eye compulsory in the semifinal and the final. We are not so conservative as it looks like. I want to remind you that the Hawk-Eye was introduced first by the ITF in the Hopman Cup in 2004/2005. Obviously this is not mentioned many times.
So we recognize that playing for your country, and we accept that the players sometimes are not all participating, but as we see from this weekend, to play for your country is a great honor, but a great reward also. The players, I'm very happy to register what the players have said after yesterday's doubles.
As the date, last mentioned, because it's very actual. As you know, the ATP has announced a shortening of the season. Obviously we don't want to play Davis Cup far away from the season. But no decision has been taken. I think the Davis Cup Committee and the Board of the ITF is considering the situation. Surely an announcement will be done as soon as decided. But obviously we are studying how to close the gap between the present date and the new date of the circuit.
So in terms of numbers, and as a last comment, I want to register a great success in media. I want to thank all of you - not just all of you here in particular - but to 450 media from 20 countries, 36 television broadcasters to cover 170 countries. These are numbers, as I said, in a new country, a young country, that is a great number.
Having said that, I am ready with Juan Margets, Chairman of the Davis Cup Committee, to answer your questions.

Q. You just say it's a big success for media. On the other hand, there are very few media from the western countries other than France and two Italians, two Germans, and one Brit.
FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: This is part a little bit of Davis Cup. The format that we have is a format that encourages interest from the specific country. But I believe that is not so bad.
As I said, in general, we have many countries represented, obviously many commentators not here, but the economic situation. The coverage is very good. The physical attendance, perhaps you are right, but I don't think it's critical. I think we are very happy.

Q. We are here for Davis Cup, but can I ask you something more about what you like and what you don't like about the new schedule in the ATP season.
FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: The ITF position is always to respect the decision of our counterpart. Our position as an institution, as the ITF, is that the calendar is not the real problem, the narrowing of the season. In my opinion, the real problem in tennis is the player commitment, is the balance between the player commitment and the tournaments that the players are required to play. This is a key problem.
The length of the season I think could be even longer. I don't think this is a real problem. It's a consequential problem. The people see the length of the season as a matter because they believe they are compulsory obliged. But as Federer says, he's a very wise man, he said he doesn't care so much because he plans himself how much to play. The key problem is always the balance between player commitment and tournament requirement.
I think the ATP is doing a great effort to make this balance a little bit better. It's not easy because we have two parties. We see and we follow with sympathy this effort and we see what will happen in the next year.

Q. And about the future. We saw what happened with world soccer. They have power in sports, very clearly. What about the future of tennis? We are going to Asia, maybe Russia. Can you give us some anticipation?
FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: I can say from my IOC position that tennis is absolutely considered one of the most universal sports. It's surely not the level of soccer, but surely is one of the most universal sports, not only in terms of nation members, but in terms of development of tennis.
Surely we see the big growth of Asia, the Middle East/Asia region, in terms of interest, and an improvement in the organization in South America. South America has a great tradition in tennis, but the organization was not really the same level of the tradition of the players. So we have a big improvement in the organization.
These are the two things in the tennis world that is happening now. Asia is growing dramatically in facilities. China is not yet a great force in tennis, but in facilities one of the first. Perhaps people are not aware, but we are aware of the facilities there with many promises. Asia is growing dramatically. Middle East is ready to invest money even if the markets are not mature. We have more interest in Turkey, which is a country in between. As you know, the Women's Masters we go to Turkey. We come from a very successful Masters in London.
I would say the only continent that obviously concerns us, and where we put most of the energy of our development, is Africa, where we have potential but we are a little bit behind for the economic situation. The priority could not be perhaps to play tennis in some countries, but we try to help the countries that has tradition. In Africa, we have very important countries like South Africa, North Africa, the French-speaking countries. We try to help them to keep up because I'm sure with the talent that the African people show for sport in general, I think sooner or later they will come also in tennis.

Q. Just a question about France, because we are here with France. Do you know something more about Roland Garros?
FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: I speak continuously with the people in charge. Obviously, it is a very difficult decision because, as I said many times, we are in Europe. In the United States, the decision would be much easier. But in Europe, we are very, very close to the tradition. It is much more difficult for a European-minded person.
I understand the French authorities, that they would like badly to improve the situation on-site. But it's very difficult. I have a lot of support for what they do now, different projects. I am ready to be with them if they're to meet some authority. As I said, the decision has not been taken. It's only preparatory work.

Q. Back to Davis Cup. As you say, Davis Cup is a great competition. This year, three of the top four men's players haven't committed to the competition. Is there something you see you could do in order to ensure that all the best players would be ready to play Davis Cup?
FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: You know, as I said, the calendar of tennis is very heavy. We are happy in general with the participation. The average participation is very good. I would say that the players in general support Davis Cup.
We should not forget the Davis Cup is not any requirement. It is a free participation, totally free participation, different from all the other tournaments where there is a player commitment. So we are very, very happy.
At the end, I would say that Davis Cup is strong, even if we can miss one or two players sometimes. It's less vulnerable than many tournaments. And if you compare all the tournaments, individual tournaments, with Davis Cup, we are very well off. In each tournament, there are many missing people because the season is like that.
I think Davis Cup also - don't forget - has to pay the consideration of the team. Sometimes there is evaluation by the top players that the team could manage well without them or the team is not strong enough. So we cannot avoid these two considerations.

Q. Because you are Italian like me, I don't understand your free participation. In Italy, if you don't play Davis Cup, you are disqualified.
FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: I don't know the rule in Italy. I'm not updated to the rule. I think it's free also in Italy. In fact, sometimes there are players that don't play. I don't see them stopping playing. They continue to play.
So I think perhaps is a rule, but I don't know if it is enforceable in the new world.

Q. Serbia has been complaining a lot about some referee calls yesterday. Your comment?
FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: Been complaining? We never received any complaint. I don't know who is complaining.

Q. Yesterday after the doubles.
FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: I believe that the umpiring was very good. With the Hawk-Eye system in place, I would say that many controversial decisions are clarified on-site. So I don't see really that somebody has to complain.
I'm sure anyhow that the results of the match have not been impacted by the decision of the umpiring.

Q. In the same time, we know Stefan Fransson for a long time. He is Swedish, but he works for Roland Garros. You don't think it was the case to down-put a supervisor for a Davis Cup final which is a supervisor from the most important tournament in the world which is managed from the French Federation?
FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: Well, I answer very clearly. Stefan Fransson is the most recognized person in the officiating world of tennis. Second, he is not on the chair. He has to overview the rules. I don't think he has a direct impact anyhow on any decision on the chair.
So I believe that your comment is received, but I am completely relaxed about that.
Thank you.

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