Pique: Madrid Finals can be the week of people's lives
Gerard Pique still remembers the first time he got hooked on tennis – and it was long before he was to become internationally famous for playing a different sport.
He was eight years old when his father took him to Barcelona’s celebrated Real Club to watch the annual professional tournament and the players who, along with footballers, were his first sporting heroes.
“My father is a member of the Real Club, I’ve been going there since I was a kid,” he recalls. “I used to watch Carlos Moya, Albert Costa, Alberto Berasategui, Carlos Costa. I always loved football, but tennis has been my passion as well. Ultimately, I chose football, which I guess has been a smart choice.”
That is something of an understatement, as he has gone on to build up a collection of medals and trophies almost unparalleled among players in the world’s most popular game.
Having fulfilled his dreams in one athletic pursuit, now comes the chance to fulfil some more in his other sport of choice – this time in the form of reshaping the Davis Cup in line with his own vision and that of colleagues at Kosmos.
One of them happens to be Albert Costa, the former French Open champion and one of those he used to watch. He is now Tournament Director of the revamped competition that will feature 18 nations playing over one week (18-24 Nov) at Madrid’s Caja Magica.
Pique occasionally plays tennis with members of the Kosmos staff, and even at Barcelona it is not hard to find team-mates happy to have a chat about the game.
“Obviously football is the biggest sport but probably tennis and basketball share the second position in Spain, and this makes a lot of us footballers follow it. For instance (Lionel) Messi likes tennis a lot and Ivan Rakitic is another. They follow their countries in the Davis Cup. At the Caja Magica you can always see players from Real Madrid and Atletico watching.”
Amid the countdown to the new Finals week, Pique’s vision is that anyone who attends the event in Madrid has a memorable experience, whether they are a superstar footballer, an ordinary fan, or one of the tennis players who are the central part of the show.
“I want them to have the best week of their lives,” he says. “I want Davis Cup to be a party around tennis, not just tennis. We have a deal with Sony and there are going to be different artists performing there that will provide other entertainment which is going to help make Davis Cup unique.
“During that week fans will enjoy more than just tennis, and of course we want them to have a great time in Madrid. They love their sport there. They had the Champions League final in the city this year, the World Cup of basketball also. Spain in general is a very sporting country, Madrid is the capital and they are very excited to be hosting the Davis Cup.”
It is the intention of both he and ITF President David Haggerty that players will remember their participation long after they retire.
“I listen to some of the former champions and when they think of their most memorable times they think of the Davis Cup as well as the Grand Slams,” says Haggerty.
“It’s like when you are a footballer and you look back on representing your country or playing in the Champions League, we want this to feel the same.”
Inevitably, remodelling an event with 119 years of history has not come without its challenges, both in terms of logistics and getting relevant parties onside. Pique admits it has been a learning experience in some ways, but also hopes that everyone will keep an open mind about the changes.
“There some surprises in terms of operations, you have to deal with challenges that other events don’t have to,” says Pique. “For example, creating 18 dressing rooms for the teams. We are having 18 different spaces of 100 square metres, each of them so they can have their own privacy. It’s not just the players but physios, staff and coaches.
“In terms of the event we needed to convince different people who were maybe sceptical and were against the idea of changing the format. We’ve had to face it since the beginning. This is something I believe we did an amazing job at because we feel people in the game are now more convinced.
“The Davis Cup has a big meaning in the world of sport and tennis, there were some people against it, but right now I feel that Davis Cup is going to be stronger than it has been in the last 10 years.”
One certain by-product of the new format is that the world of wheelchair tennis is going to benefit. Kosmos will fund that branch of the sport with $1 million per year as part of the deal with the ITF.
You could say that this part of it is personal for Pique, as he is a long-standing supporter of the Guttmann Institute in Barcelona. It is a centre for brain and spinal injuries, to which his mother has given most of her working life.
“My mum has been working there for the last 25 years, and wheelchairs are obviously an important element. For my family it has touched us since I was very young, she has dedicated her career to working in that area.
“Also, we understand that tennis as a sport is not just men’s, it’s also women’s, wheelchair, everyone is involved, and we wanted to make it part of our investment because we understand it is a very important part of the tennis world.”
Pique is keen to win everyone over to what is a long-term vision for the Davis Cup: “I like to think big and our idea since the beginning is to put this competition where it deserves to be, and maybe to create an event longer than one week.
“We understand we have to start little by little. I don’t want to compare ourselves to any other tournament because I think we are unique. In five years’ time I want everyone, players and fans, to think ‘Davis Cup is in November and I want to be there’”.