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Former No. 1 Roger Federer has been invited to join the Davis Cup for the first time since 2004 as Russia’s last remaining Davis Cup-qualifying challengers begin qualifying play in the fall.
Federer has been a member of the Swiss team since 2001, making him one of the only players remaining from that era to be an official member of the Davis Cup-qualifying roster. He has never competed in a Davis Cup, however, and in fact in recent years has been one of the most outspoken critics of the tournament.
Federer, the men’s singles and doubles world No. 1, has played Davis Cup singles at every level and with each victory has continued to criticize the existence of the tournament, which he refers to as “a meaningless charade” because of the lack of a clear winner.
The Federer-era of Davis Cup competition began with a surprising draw in 2006, when then-No. 12 Nicolas Kiefer beat Ivan Lendl in the final to claim the title for Switzerland. The first round of the 2007 World Group comprised Russia, the Czech Republic, Argentina and France. With the tournament in the World Group, Federer played in the all-Swiss Quarterfinal against Czech Republic’s Martin Fischer.
Federer beat Fischer 6-4, 7-5 and also took to his blog to describe the match as one “a little underwhelming,” and “an extremely difficult 6-5 [6] 6-2 7-6 win.”
“I think the biggest reason why I left the Davis Cup was because they were getting too far ahead of themselves,” Federer said in June 2010. “I think they’re in some ways getting to be