"...Good morning, dear passengers, thank you for choosing Air New Zealand as your partner for this journey. Ahead is the final destination of our flight, Auckland, and I am your captain..."
In the cabin, the in-flight radio was rustling, the blue light slowly receded like a tide, and the sleeping flight slowly came back to life.
Stretching to save their sore waists, moving back and forth in the aisles, waiting in line at the bathroom door, waking up and looking for breakfast supplies, being stiff and unable to move in weird postures, closing eyes tightly as if entering another world
A world traveler...
A rustling sound surged in the air. Then, Gawain also woke up and stretched a lot. His knees and waist were still a little sore——
Although the business class seats can lie flat, the space is still too narrow for Gao Wen's height. He has to curl up like a baby every time, and it is inevitable to wake up with back pain.
Just by slouching, you can feel the crackling of your bones, and every cell in your body is moaning happily.
etc!
Auckland?
What about Indian Wells?
All the bustling eyes were focused on Indian Wells, looking forward to Gao Wen's next performance in the Masters, but it turned out that Gao Wen was heading to Auckland?
Is there an error in the schedule?
of course not.
Everything is going according to plan. There is still a full week left before the qualifying round in Indian Wells, and a full two weeks left before the main draw. And in this short window period, there is another event:
Davis Cup!
Today's professional tennis events can be divided into three parts: ATP/WTA, ITF, and the four Grand Slams. Among the three, they cooperate and coordinate with each other, but at the same time, there is also a certain degree of competition.
After a detailed and in-depth analysis, it is intricate and intricate, and can be simply understood:
ATP/WTA are responsible for the daily tour; the management rights of the four Grand Slams belong to the host countries respectively. The tennis associations of these countries jointly organize the four Grand Slams every year, but still remain relatively independent——
It is precisely because of this that the wild cards of the four Grand Slams often have their own special attributes.
So, what about ITF?
ITF, also known as the International Tennis Association, is responsible for challenge tournaments, hope tournaments and youth events. In other words, the youth tournaments of the four Grand Slams are organized by the ITF. It should be noted that the ITF also has its own points ranking, but due to limitations
It's so big that almost no one pays attention to it.
The youth world rankings are compiled by the ITF.
If it were just that, then the ITF would have almost no sense of presence in the professional tennis world. In fact, the ITF's right to speak is indeed subject to many constraints and is difficult to move forward. It is almost a doorstep like a sandwich cookie; however, there is only one exception:
Olympic Games!
The Olympic Games is an event that is participated by countries as a unit. Therefore, they will not and cannot contact the ATP and WTA as an individual unit. The ITF, which is also a country unit, becomes the only possible partner.
This also means that the ITF has the right to decide the qualifications for the Olympic Games, and players must participate in ITF events to compete for qualifications——
Therefore, the Davis Cup for men's team competition and the Confederations Cup for women's team competition organized by ITF became the only way.
According to ITF regulations, if a tennis player wants to compete in the Olympics, he must accumulate appearances in the Davis Cup or Fed Cup. A four-year cycle is used as a cycle. Regardless of winning or losing, only if the number of games reaches the standard can he win the Olympics.
qualifications.
In addition, the number of participants from each country is also limited, which is the same as table tennis and badminton.
Of course, if a player does not have any interest in the Olympics, it will not matter whether he participates in the Davis Cup and Confederations Cup.
However, looking at it from another perspective, there are no team events in the Olympics, only men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles. This also means that the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup are the only team championships in tennis events, leaving aside the Olympic Games.
Needless to say, this is also a special honor.
Moreover, the ITF has reached agreements with ATP and WTA respectively. Players can also win ranking points when they play in the Davis Cup, giving players additional incentives——
Although, the points are really at the level of mosquito meat.
For various reasons, almost all the top big-name players have appeared on the stage of Davis Cup and Confederations Cup.
The Davis Cup, with a history comparable to the four Grand Slams, originated from Harvard University in 1899.
At that time, four tennis players from Harvard University proposed the idea of a tennis match with Britain. Dwight-F-Davis, one of the four, planned the event and bought the trophy with his own money.
In 1900, the first competition was held.
In 1905, an additional seat was added to the event, with a joint team composed of members from Belgium, Austria, France, and Australasia.
In 1914, Australia and New Zealand also entered the competition.
Initially, this event was named the "International Tennis Challenge", but it soon became known as the "Davis Cup" and has developed to this day.
Now, the Davis Cup, like the Confederations Cup, is all hosted by the ITF.
After a century of development, the Davis Cup has become the only team championship in the individual sport of tennis, with a status comparable to the World Cup.
It is precisely because of this that qualifying for the Davis Cup is as complicated as the World Cup.
The World Cup is divided into two parts: qualifying and finals, and the same is true for the Davis Cup:
World Group and Regional Group.
The regional group is equivalent to the World Cup qualifiers; the world group is equivalent to the World Cup finals——
To put it simply, through the regional group competitions, the qualifying spots are determined and the world group competes for the championship. This is the core information of the entire competition system.
When it comes to details, the Davis Cup seems much more complicated.
First, the world group.
The rules are simple, sixteen teams will draw lots and compete in a single elimination system, and the champion will be determined in the end.
Among them, specifically for each match, there are three best-of-five sets, three singles matches, and two doubles matches; single matches are the same as the Grand Slam, best-of-five sets.
Regarding the long-set tiebreaker, the Davis Cup still uses the long-set tiebreaker, that is, there is no tie-break in the final set; but there is an exception. If one side has taken the lead in winning three games, then the remaining games need to continue, but the long-set tiebreaker is abandoned.
The final set is a tie-break.
Here, there is a little special thing:
In the first round of the knockout round, the eight teams that won will be able to stay in the world group next year; while the eight teams that unfortunately lost will be relegated to the regional group, and they need to fight for the right to qualify through the winning team in the regional group to win the world group championship.
Qualifications.
In other words, the sixteen teams in the world group each year are divided into two parts:
The eight teams are the top eight teams of the previous year; the eight teams are the winners of the previous year's regional group play-offs.
Secondly, regional groups.
There are three regions in total: the European and African Regional Group, the North and South American Regional Group, and the Asian and Oceanic Regional Group. The rules for dividing the World Cup qualifiers by region are basically the same, but they are simpler.
In the World Cup qualifiers, multiple rounds are required, including qualifying rounds, the first round of the group stage, the second round of the group stage, the play-offs, and the same goes for the Davis Cup.
To explain it specifically, it is indeed complicated to say it is complicated, but it is also very simple to say it is simple.