LONDON (Reuters) – This year’s Davis Cup Finals to be staged in Madrid have been postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said on Friday.
The second finals of the flagship team competition, revamped last year with Spain winning the title in Madrid’s Caja Magica, will now take place in November 2021.
“It’s a huge disappointment for all of us that the Davis Cup Finals will not be held in 2020,” Barcelona soccer player Gerard Pique, whose Kosmos Tennis company have invested heavily in the event, said in a joint statement with the ITF.
“We don’t know how the situation will develop in each qualified nation, or if restrictions in Spain will remain sufficiently eased, as such it is impossible to predict the situation in November and guarantee the safety of those traveling to Madrid.”
Kosmos partnered the ITF to revamp the competition and are to plough in $3 billion over 25 years.
The same 18 nations to qualify for the Finals will contest next year’s week-long event.
Earlier on Friday the ITF said it’s inaugural Fed Cup Finals, that should have been played in Budapest in April, had been delayed until the same time next year.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
