Pique Pursues $50 Million From ITF Despite Davis Cup 'Success Story'

Saturday, 24 June 2023 at 07:00

byAlex Waite

Gerard Pique has defended the Kosmos Group’s handling of the Davis Cup, even though the company is pursuing $50 million from the ITF.

Pique's company Kosmos Group took over the Davis Cup organisation in 2018 when the company struck a long-term deal with the ITF that would see Kosmos lead the prestigious tennis competition for 25 years. However, the ITF terminated the contract with Pique's company earlier this year to take the tournament in a different direction.

Throughout the Kosmos Group's time in charge of the Davis Cup, Pique and his organisers faced criticism over changing the competition form, which included changing the World Group format into round-robin groups of three teams each.

But, in response to the ITF's split with Kosmos, Pique defended his company in an interview with Marca and pointed to increasing revenue under his stewardship.

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"We believe that what we did with the Davis Cup is a resounding success story, We arrived with a competition that was in decline, it was at a low point. And on a sporting, economic and audience level, above all, we turned the tournament around."

- Pique told Marca

"That is evident and verifiable with numbers. We quadrupled our income in one year. We went from three to 15 sponsors. What happens is that in 2020 COVID arrived and changed everything in all sports."

Moreover, the former Spain and Barcelona football player said his company were challenging the ITF over $50 million after a loss of revenue. Even though Pique could not elaborate on the reasons for seeking reparations, he reiterated that he was proud of Kosmos Group's leadership of the Davis Cup.

"We had an agreement with the ITF, we paid them a very large sum of money, I would say out of the market, $40 million a year. In an equal competition, like the ATP Cup, which was the same thing, Tennis Australia was paying $10 million to the ATP. So we were paying four times as much."

“In 2020 there was no Davis Cup, for part of 2021 it was played behind closed doors… the fixed amount we were paying was out of the market. After the termination by the ITF there is now a dispute between us in which we are claiming up to $50 million."

“We can’t say more because of confidentiality restrictions. But I am very proud of everything we did. We turned the competition on its head and then came COVID, which was impossible to foresee.”