London: World number two Rafael Nadal has urged the world governing tennis body to restructure the annual Davis Cup team competition in order to attract more top-flight players.

Nadal, who won the French Open for the third time in a row last Sunday, missed Spain’s quarter final loss to the US in April due to injury.

“To play the Davis Cup a lot makes you lose a whole lot of money and also leaves you with practically not a single week of rest in the whole year,” Nadal said.”

This is something the International Tennis Federation should look at (and ask itself) why some of the best players in the world don’t play in it,” he said.

“I don’t have the solution.”

Nadal said he enjoyed the special atmosphere of the Davis Cup and being part of a Spanish team.

But he added: “It’s a competition that has stayed in the past, economically speaking, in relation to all the other tournaments.” Prize money was first awarded in the Davis Cup in 1981 but the purse is small compared to what other professional tournaments offer.

(REUTERS)