(Reuters) – The International Tennis Federation announced on Thursday that it was ending its Davis Cup partnership with Gerard Pique’s investment group Kosmos.
In 2018, the ITF had unveiled the 25-year, $3 billion partnership with former Barcelona soccer player Pique’s investment group amid much fanfare. It said then that the package to revamp the Davis Cup competition would safeguard the future of the sport as it would “deliver long-term benefits for players, nations, fans, sponsors and broadcasters”.
However, less than five years later the deal — which also had the backing of Wimbledon, French and U.S. Open officials — has ended.
“The ITF can confirm that its partnership with Kosmos Tennis for Davis Cup is ending in its fifth year,” the ITF said in a statement.
“The ITF negotiated a strong deal for tennis in 2018. The partnership increased participation, prize money and interest in Davis Cup and produced funding to support the global development of our sport.”
The agreement with Kosmos had led to the revamp of the men’s team competition, which was founded in 1900.
The usual home-and-away ties played over a few weekends during the course of the year were scrapped.
That format was replaced in 2019 with just one home-and-away round of ties every year which would then be followed by 18-teams competing in one city for a week-long climax to the season.
Despite the deal with Kosmos being terminated, the governing body of tennis added: “The ITF has ensured financial contingencies are in place and as the custodian of the competition we will operate the 2023 Qualifiers and Finals as scheduled, with the Final 8 taking place in Malaga, Spain, this November.
“As well as being focused on delivering another spectacular edition of the men’s World Cup of Tennis, we are focused on the future growth of the largest annual international team competition in sport.”
(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, additional reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk, editing by Ed Osmond)
