Carlos Alcaraz calls for changes to the Davis Cup

The Davis Cup Final 8 begins this Tuesday in Bologna, Italy, marking the sixth time the team competition’s champion will be decided at a neutral site. Despite this, a growing sentiment for change persists, with suggestions for home-and-away matchups or a less frequent schedule.

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, the six-time Grand Slam champion and recent ATP Finals runner-up, argues the event’s annual occurrence detracts from its prestige.

“They got to do something (with) this event, because I think playing every year, I mean — it is not as good as it might be if you’re playing every two or three years,” Alcaraz stated. “I think if the tournament is played, like, every two years or every three years, the players, the commitment of the players, it’s going to be even more because it’s unique, it’s different. You’re not able to play every year.”

Carlos Alcaraz is poised to lead Spain into their Davis Cup quarter-final clash against the fourth-seeded Czech Republic on Thursday, as he bids to secure his first title in the prestigious team competition. Last year, Alcaraz was part of the Spanish squad that suffered an early elimination in the opening round of the Final 8, which took place at home in Malaga, where Rafael Nadal played the final match of his career before retiring.

“I really want to win the Davis Cup one day,” the 22-year-old Alcaraz said, “because for me, it’s a really important, important tournament.”

Sinner led Italy to two consecutive championships in 2023 and 2024, but he decided to sit out the Davis Cup this time around. So did his countryman, Lorenzo Musetti, who also participated in the ATP Finals last week.

Sinner, who won two of his four Grand Slam titles this season and was the runner-up to Alcaraz at the other two majors in 2025, joined his rival in advocating for switching things up with the Davis Cup.

Maybe, Sinner suggested, it could be spread out over two years, including staging the semifinals early in the second season of the cycle and the final at the end of that season.

That, he surmised, would make it “even bigger.”

“I never, unfortunately, played the Davis Cup, the ‘real’ Davis Cup, where it’s … playing in Argentina or in Brazil, where you have the whole stadium … for the other team,” Sinner said. “I think this is Davis Cup, you know?”

Count Pierre-Hugues Herbert, a 34-year-old Frenchman who helped his country win the Davis Cup before a home crowd at Lille in 2017, was another player who would like to see each of the closing rounds be played at one of the nations involved.

“The new format has been a bit challenging for us in France, I think, especially for me,” said Herbert, who owns a career Grand Slam in doubles, “because I felt like something a bit died in this competition.”

This week’s finals will begin with No. 3 seed France taking on Belgium on Tuesday. Then No. 1 Italy — whose roster includes Flavio Cobolli, Lorenzo Sonego and 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini — will face Austria on Wednesday, before the last two quarterfinals are held on Thursday, including No. 2 Germany and Alexander Zverev against Argentina.

One semifinal will be played on Friday, and the other on Saturday, before the champion is determined on Sunday.

Alcaraz and Spain have a tough task, going up against a Czech team that includes a pair of top-20 players in Jiri Lehecka and Jakub Mensik and eliminated the United States in the qualifying round in September.

“Winning against them,” said Mensik, a 20-year-old who is the youngest player at the Final 8, “brings us a lot of confidence into the Final 8.”