Nicolas Mahut critical of Davis Cup, calls it a 'total failure'

Nicolas Mahut was very critical of the previous four iterations of the Davis Cup which were held under the direction of Kosmos as the event transferred back to the ITF this year.

Not many tennis players were fans of the new format Kosmos brought to the Davis Cup and after four years, the majority of them could rejoice. The event was transferred back to ITF with the 25-year contract with Kosmos cancelled. Mahut called the experiment a total failure as players lost four years of the Davis Cup:

"We should never have allowed all of this. Maybe they thought they were making a good decision, but they immediately saw that it wasn't working. The idea of doing some kind of World Cup of tennis could not work. The public did not respond."

He added:

"It's a total failure. It wasn't even shown on the big channels in France. I am very angry with ITF President Haggerty. He had the bad idea to let us down, and now we can only wonder what will happen. Giudicelli also knows what I think of his decision as vice president of the ITF and president of the FFT."

And concluded with:

"It is evident that he too bears much of the responsibility for this fiasco, and I see that he does not question it. In France we have always had a very strong Davis Cup culture, but I guess young kids didn't want to play this competition that Kosmos forced on us, contrary to what many might think."