Alexander Zverev was never a fan of the current Davis Cup format, but he added some more criticism for good measure.
Zverev famously blasted this new Davis Cup format, explaining that it's not the real Davis Cup. His distaste for it went as far as to decline to play for Germany until the old format returned, but he's since made a U-turn.
He's played for Germany in the new format, but he's still not a fan of it, and he's not the only one. We've seen multiple player call it out recently, including Stan Wawrinka, who was particularly harsh with his words. Andy Murray said something, as did Australian Team Captain Lleyton Hewitt.
Zverev added his thoughts to it by agreeing with Boris Becker, who commented on the new format. Becker said that whoever created this new one had no idea about tennis, and Zverev agreed. The German added that, as one of the oldest tennis competitions in the world, the Davis Cup shouldn't have been sold as it was.
Absolutely 100% right! The Davis Cup is one of the oldest competitions in the world that money could never have brought. Back to the real Davis Cup and back to tennis history.
He's not wrong in that regard because there is a lot of history tied to the Davis Cup, and much of it had to do with the old format. Without it, the competition simply doesn't look the same, and you can see that players are not that enthusiastic about it.
Playing in front of home fans was denied to many of them, and plenty grew up dreaming about it. Zverev did, and without German fans, the Davis Cup means very little to him. He didn't play for the country in the most recent tie, though they still won.