"...Good morning, dear passengers and friends, thank you for choosing Air New Zealand as your partner for this journey, our final destination of this flight is ahead, Auckland, I am your captain..."
In the cabin, the in-flight radio was rustling, the faint blue halo receded slowly like the tide, and the sleeping flight slowly returned to life.
Stretching to save yourself from a sore waist, moving back and forth in the aisle, standing in line at the bathroom door, waiting in line at the bathroom door, waking up looking for breakfast, stiff and unable to move in weird postures, closing your eyes tightly as if entering another world A world-traveling…
There was a rustling sound, surging in the air, and then, Gao Wen also woke up, stretched a big lazy waist, and his knees and waist were still a little sore—
Although the seats in the business class 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 he will inevitably suffer from back pain when he wakes up.
With a lazy waist, you can feel the crackling of bones, and every cell in your body groans happily.
etc!
Oakland?
What about Indian Wells?
All the hustle and bustle are all focused on Indian Wells, looking forward to Gao Wen's next performance in the Masters, but Gao Wen is heading to Auckland?
Could it be that the schedule went wrong?
of course not.
Everything is going according to plan, there is still a full week before the Indian Wells qualifying match, and a full two weeks before the main match, and in this short window period, there is another event debuting:
Davis Cup!
Today's professional tennis events can be divided into three parts: ATP/WTA, ITF, and the Four Grand Slams. The three cooperate with each other and coordinate with each other, but there is also a certain amount of competition.
When analyzed in depth, it is intricate and complicated, and can be easily understood:
ATP/WTA is 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 major Grand Slams every year, but they still remain relatively independent—
This is precisely because of this, 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 Federation, is in charge of the challenge, hope match and youth events, that is to say, the youth competitions of the four grand slams are assisted by itf. It should be noted that itf also has its own points ranking, but due to limitations It's so big that almost no one cares about it.
The youth world ranking is calculated by itf.
If that’s all it is, then the itf has almost no sense of presence in the professional tennis world. In fact, the itf’s right to speak is indeed constrained by many parties, and it is difficult to move forward. It is almost like a sandwich biscuit-like doormat; however, there is only one exception:
Olympic Games!
The Olympic Games is an event in which countries take part. Therefore, they will not and cannot contact ATP and WTA, which are based on individuals. The ITF, which is also based on countries, has become the only possible partner.
This also means that itf has the right to judge the qualifications for the Olympic Games, and players must participate in itf events to qualify—
As a result, the men's team competition Davis Cup and the women's team competition Confederation Cup held by itf have become the only way.
According to itf regulations, if a tennis player wants to enter the Olympic Games, he must accumulate the number of appearances in the Davis Cup or Confederations Cup, with a four-year period, no matter whether he wins or loses, only if the number of games meets the standard can he win the Olympic Games qualifications.
In addition, the number of participants in each country is also limited, which is the same as table tennis and badminton.
Of course, if a player doesn't have any interest in the Olympics, it doesn't matter whether he plays in the Davis Cup or Confederations Cup.
Moreover, itf has reached an agreement with atp and wta respectively, and players can also win ranking points when they play in the Davis Cup, giving players extra incentives—
Although, the points are really the level of mosquito meat.
For various reasons, almost all top big-name players have been on the stage of Davis Cup and Confederations Cup.
The Davis Cup, whose history is comparable to the four Grand Slams, originated at Harvard University in 1899.
At that time, four tennis players from Harvard University came up with the idea of playing tennis with the United Kingdom. Among the four, Dwight-F-Davis (Dwight-f-Davis) planned the event and bought the trophy out of his own pocket. In 1900, the first tournament was held.
In 1905, a seat was added to the event, and a combined team from Belgium, Austria, France, and Australasia joined.
In 1914, Australia and New Zealand also entered the fray.
Originally, the event was named the "International Tennis Challenge", but it soon developed into the well-known "Davis Cup", which has continued to this day.
Now, the Davis Cup, like the Confederations Cup, is all organized by itf.
After a century of development, the Davis Cup has become the only team championship in the individual sport of tennis, and its status is comparable to the World Cup.
It is precisely because of this that the qualifications for the Davis Cup are as complicated as the World Cup.
The World Cup is divided into two parts, the qualifiers and the finals, and the same is true for the Davis Cup:
World and regional groups.
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 places are determined, and the world group competes for the championship. This is the core message of the entire competition system.
When it comes to details, the Davis Cup is much more complicated.
First, the world group.
The rules are simple, sixteen teams will draw lots to face each other, single-match elimination system, and finally decide the champion.
Among them, specific to each game, the five-match three-win system, three singles games, and two doubles games; a single game is the same as the Grand Slam, five-set three-win system.
Regarding the long-set tiebreaker, the Davis Cup still uses a long-set tiebreaker, that is, there is no tiebreaker in the final set; but there are exceptions. If one party has won three games first, then the remaining games need to continue, but the long-set tiebreaker is abandoned. The final set was a tie-break.
Here, there is a little special:
The eight teams that won the first knockout round~www.mtlnovel.com~ can continue to stay in the world group next year; while the eight teams that unfortunately lost will be relegated to the regional group, and the winning teams in the regional group need to fight for the right to qualify , to qualify for the world championship.
In other words, the sixteen teams in the world group each year are divided into two parts:
Eight teams are the previous year's top eight; eight teams are the winners of the previous year's regional group play-offs.
Second, regional groups.
The European and African regional group, the North and South American regional group, and the Asian and Oceanian regional group, a total of three regions, are basically the same as the World Cup qualifiers according to the regional division rules, but simpler.
In the World Cup qualifiers, multiple rounds are required, the qualifying round, the first round of the group stage, the second round of the group stage, the play-offs, and the Davis Cup is the same.
To explain it in detail, it is indeed complicated to say that it is complicated, but it is also very simple to say that it is simple.
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