The president of Kosmos, Gerard Piqué, announced that the business group is claiming 50 million dollars from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) due to the termination of the agreement for the organization of the Davis Cup. In an interview published in the newspaper Marca, Piqué stated: “After the termination by the ITF, there is now a dispute between us in which we are claiming up to 50 million dollars. We can’t say more because of confidentiality restrictions, but I feel very proud for everything we did.”
Piqué defended his company’s management of the Davis Cup and believes it was a resounding success: “We believe that what we did with the Davis Cup is a resounding success story. We arrived with a competition that was in decline; it was in its low hours, and we turned the tournament around in sporting, economic, and audience terms.” However, the impact of COVID-19 on the sport affected the plans, and last January the ITF decided to regain control of the competition and end the agreement with Kosmos.
Pique mentioned that they had a financial agreement with the ITF in which they paid a considerable sum of money, but the situation caused by the pandemic took the fixed amount they were paying out of the market. Although many leagues and federations renegotiated the terms due to COVID-19, the ITF decided against it and ended the agreement abruptly.
Kosmos revolutionized the Davis Cup format starting in 2019, replacing the traditional clashes between home and visiting teams with a final at the end of the year. However, the new formula did not fully meet the high expectations generated.