Gerard Pique says he wants a merger between the Davis Cup and ATP Cup to result in a ‘super event’ held in September.
Pique has been at the forefront of the new-look Davis Cup which was won by Spain in Madrid on Sunday.
Investment company Kosmos have pledged $3billion over 25 years to the competition and have grand plans for the event with the International Tennis Federation.
But at the start of January, another team competition, the inaugural ATP Cup will be played across three cities in Australia with 24 nations involved.
In September, Roger Federer’s Laver Cup has the prime slot in the calendar, two weeks after the US Open.
Federer and Pique both have a vested interest in the growth of their tournaments and been engaged in a public back and forth.
In an interview with Swiss publication Tages Anzeiger, Pique insisted the two events don’t need to be in competition with each other.
And while on his exhibition tour, Federer insisted he wanted the Davis Cup to be a success.
“I hope it goes well, I really do,” he said.
“The Davis Cup has been very important for me in my career.”
Novak Djokovic has called for talks which would see the Davis Cup and the ATP Cup come together and Rafael Nadal also wants a merger.
But Pique says the solution would be a major event in September which puts him in direct confrontation with Federer’s Laver Cup.
“In the last year, we’ve tried to sit down with the ATP, obviously the situation with the former president wasn’t ideal to sit down and try to arrive to a deal,” Pique said at a news conference on Sunday at Caja Magica.
“Now there will be some changes, so we are expecting that so we can sit down again.
“I think that in the future, ITF and Kosmos, we are really open to sit down with the ATP and try to arrive to a deal, to make a unique competition, a super event of two weeks and try to find the best part in the calendar.
“I think Novak (Djokovic) and Rafa (Nadal), the number one and two in the world right now, have expressed that they want the same, they want just one event, and if it’s possible, to put it in September for two weeks. Since day one, we expressed we want to arrive to this deal.
“It makes no sense to have right now two different competitions that are very similar.”
