ITF president David Haggerty envisions transformative Davis Cup changes elevating the 118-year-old competition to a fifth Grand Slam status.
Some players suggest the new Davis Cup may not even be the most successful Cup competition anymore.
Watch: Twitter Up in Arms Over Davis Cup Changes
The International Tennis Federation approved a plan that will create an 18-team, year-end World Cup-style Davis Cup final. Eighteen nations will compete in a week-long Davis Cup finale each November.
The first edition of the new Davis Cup final format will be staged in either Madrid or Lille November 18-24th, 2019.
The ATP announced plans to relaunch its World Team Cup competition in Australia in 2020. The World Team Cup was formerly staged in Dusseldorf, Germany for 35 years.
Milos Raonic suggests the World Team Cup's position in the schedule at the start of the season when most players are fresher and healthier will give it the edge over Davis Cup at the end of the year.
"The one thing that the World Team Cup will have on its side is scheduling at the time of year it will be," Raonic told the media in Cincinnati. "But other than that, it's something and it's a fresh start, and I think players will appreciate it.
The new World Team Cup will feature 24 teams, $15 million in annual prize money plus ranking points.
The ATP's World Team Cup competition has the support of partner Tennis Australia, which opposed the ITF's Davis Cup reforms. ATP Player Council president Novak Djokovic says the World Team Cup will revolutionize the sport.
"I think the World Team Cup is something that we are very proud of," Djokovic said. "We worked very hard together with ATP management to make that happen. Obviously, it's still not 100 percent, but it's looking like that's going to happen. That competition will be revolutionary competition for our sport."
Andy Murray, who led Great Britain to the 2015 Davis Cup, says scheduling two team competitions within weeks of each other will not be healthy for the sport and suggested the ATP's plans may have fueled the ITF's Davis Cup decision.
"I don't think having like two team competitions six weeks apart, I don't see that as being a positive thing," Murray said. "But, I mean, the ATP and the ITF are not working together on it, so it's obviously most likely both are going to end up having.
"Because if the ITF, I guess if they waited to take a little bit more time over things and the ATP go ahead with their event the beginning of the year in Australia and that's a big success, then that's very negative for the, you know, for the ITF."
Photo credit: Christopher Levy