"When is it not a privilege to play for your country?" - Jannik Sinner and Emma Raducanu heavily criticised after opting not to represent their countries

Jannik Sinner and Emma Raducanu have been slammed by former British number one John Lloyd after the pair skipped the chance to represent their countries at the finals of the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup respectively.

The pair, both number one for their nations, had other priorities other than representing their country on the world stage. Sinner's exclusion had raised a number of eyebrows as he ruled himself out of helping Italy challenge for a third Davis Cup title on the bounce. This was due to him looking ahead to the 2026 campaign as he looks to re-ignite his rivalry with world number one Carlos Alcaraz.

The Billie Jean King Cup Finals occurred sooner in the year, intertwining with the start to the Asian swing. This was seen as a priority for Raducanu over playing for Great Britain. She opted to spend more time playing for herself in WTA events to try and climb up the rankings and get used to her new coach Francisco Roig.

Lloyd was not impressed by Sinner not representing his country. "To be honest, my reaction was sadness, not because Italy won it, but because of where the Davis Cup has come now. This, to me, I have been saying for years and years, that the Davis Cup has become a bit of a joke," he said on the Inside-In Tennis Podcast.

"It’s managed to get away with it, because when it’s being played in a different country, whether it’s patriotic, you still get people coming to watch no matter what," he continued. "But you cannot have a competition that is billed as the greatest team competition when you have one player in the top 10 playing."

Sinner had played a lot of tennis leading up to the event in Bologna. He recently won the Paris Masters before taking down the best players in the world in Turin to win the ATP Finals for a second year in a row. While it sounded like a feasible excuse to rest-up ahead of 2026 to the four-time Grand Slam champion, that view was not seen by Lloyd. "You cannot fool the public. You can in Italy because they want to see their own country and they are blessed with a lot of good players. But Musetti and Sinner did not play because of physical reasons," Lloyd stated. "They basically said that they wanted a rest and they wanted to prepare for next year. That to me is beyond belief. That’s where the Davis Cup has come now. That never would have happened [in my era]."

The 2021 US Open champion also came under fire by the former Australian Open finalist. "It’s not just the men, it’s the women," Lloyd said, switching his attention. "Look what has happened in the Billie Jean King Cup, which has also become a farce in that way. Emma Raducanu of Great Britain had a chance for the first time to possibly win it. She pulls out of it and says she wants to spend more time with the new coach and get ready for the next season or ranking points. I am thinking, are you kidding me?"

He went on to question why the top players were not prepared to represent their country. "When is it not a privilege to play for your country? Where has the game come to now, where players are saying it’s the end of the season?" he queried. "What it shows is that the Davis Cup needs to change and needs to change radically."

There has been a lot of discourse about a change of format for the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup, linking back to the absence of some of the top players. An idea which has been thrown out was that the events should be held every other year. This would cause more intrigue into the event while motivating more players to participate.  

Lloyd has taken that a step further. "In my opinion, it should be every four years, but a best-case scenario should be every two years, so that you have a chance for these players to actually put it down on their top priority list and not just when it happens to be convenient in their schedule. There is something that has changed in the mentality of players now, and it’s a very sad thing for me to see that Davis Cup now is way down," he concluded.