The dark circles under his eyes revealed that some of those present at the Palau de la Generalitat had stayed up all night watching the show offered by Rafa Nadal and Djokovic. The victory of the Balearic Islands in Paris was on everyone’s lips in the presentation of Valencia as the venue for the preliminary phase of the Davis Cup. After all, as he said Enric Rojas, CEO of Kosmos: “Last night you saw the training session for the match we will have in September in Valencia”.
The Fuente de San Luis, where the central court will be installed from September 13 to 18, will host another duel that only by poster is tennis history: Nadal-Djokovic, which will be two of the representatives of Spain and Serbia, who will compete in Group B along with Canada and Korea. Valencia will also see Carlos Alcaraz, Roberto Bautista or Félix Auger-Aliassime in action, in the absence of official calls.
Valencia is one of the four European cities that host this new format of the Davis Cup and that will experience its final phase in November in Malaga. The first two classified from each of the four groups that will face each other in September in Hamburg, Glasgow, Bologna and Valencia will arrive in the Andalusian city. Lhe city of Turia, in this way, will host the Davis Cup qualifiers for the fifth time, the last in 2018 in an exciting duel between Spain and Germany in the Plaza de Toros that was resolved in the last game thanks to David Ferrer.
Enric Rojas, CEO of Kosmos, explained the reasons that have led the organizing company of the Davis Cup to this new format. “In 2019 we started a new route and organized the World Tennis Championships in the same city for seven days, there we saw that this format was spectacular, but there were things to improve, such as schedules, audiences, coverage… After the pandemic we saw that we could expand to more cities and for more days, hence this 12-day format, to be able to play always in the afternoon, in a single session except on weekends”. In addition, this preliminary and final round format will allow fans from each country to organize their trips to support their countries on the courts.
Rojas, in the presence of Ximo Puig (President of the Generalitat), Toni Gaspar, (Deputation) and Joan Ribó (Mayor), highlighted Valencia’s commitment to once again hosting Davis: “We have had interest from many cities in Europe and outside of Europe. But the bet that Valencia has made to bring this event here is a fundamental point, because from the first day they bet on the Davis Cup. Valencia has already hosted it five times, there is a spectacular tennis tradition, with tennis players who have been at the top of the ranking (Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Ferrer, Anabel Medina…) and for all that the Davis in Valencia makes a lot of sense ” .
Anabel Medina, former player and captain of Spain, and the Valencian tennis players Carlos Taberner and Bernabé Zapata, recently arrived from Paris, where he completed his best performance in a Grand Slam, highlighted the importance for Valencian tennis of being able to once again host the city this competition. “With the experience as a player and as a captain, representing your country has nothing to do with when you compete at the individual level, because you have a greater responsibility because there is a country behind you,” said Medina.