Updated February 25, 2020 15:29:40

Photo: Lleyton Hewitt said the huge crowd turnout at the ATP Cup was in stark contrast to the Davis Cup crowds. (AAP: Dave Hunt)

Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt says the success of the ATP Cup in Australia in January is putting pressure on the Davis Cup.

In what was the first year of the new revamped Davis Cup format, which involved a week-long, 18-nation finale in Madrid in November, TV coverage showing empty stadia sparked debate about the future of the tournament.

"I think that the ITF's [International Tennis Federation] under a lot of pressure though, purely with how strong the ATP Cup performed as well and that format and the crowds," Hewitt said.

"You know, I might be biased but the crowds in Australia across the board with every single country that played was pretty amazing.

"It was a great spectacle, not only live but I think it came across unbelievably well on TV."

Hewitt said that low attendances in Madrid, particularly for his side's quarter-final clash with Canada, made for a poor atmosphere.

"That was the most disappointing thing for me in Madrid last year was purely the crowd attendance," he said.

"I'd much prefer to be there and actually have some kind of atmosphere and the crowd going against you than playing with 20 or 30 people there."

The ATP Cup, a new team event run in partnership between Tennis Australia and the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) opened the men's season in January, just six weeks after the Davis Cup, which is also a men's tennis team event.

Serbia, led by Novak Djokovic, won the inaugural event in front of a vocal Serbian crowd.

Photo: Novak Djokovic led Serbia to victory in the inaugural ATP Cup. (AP: Steve Christo)

The ITF partnered with Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué's business Kosmos to stage the Davis Cup in Madrid in a bid to make it the World Cup of Tennis in 2019.

Piqué's company has invested billions of dollars into the tournament over a 25-year contract.

Both Piqué and the ITF have indicated their willingness to merge the Davis Cup and ATP Cup.

Rafael Nadal has said he believes there should only be one team event, as the existence of two is confusing for fans.

World number one Novak Djokovic has also said there is not room in the calendar for both.

But Hewitt said he did not believe the two competitions could merge, labelling the ITF "hard to deal with".

"I'm not sure if they'll merge though, to be honest. It's been pretty hard to deal with the ITF for 25 years so I'm not sure it's going to change overnight now," Hewitt said.

Hewitt, who announced that Alex de Minaur and Nick Kyrgios would lead Australia in their tie with Brazil next month in Adelaide, also criticised the decision to stage the event in Madrid for a second year.

"This is meant to be an International competition, if we keep playing it in Madrid every year there's going to be issues with that."

He also said that scheduling had been a problem for Australia, who lost to Canada in the quarter-final.

"The scheduling was tough though in Madrid and I think that was the biggest difference with the ATP Cup. We always had that day off after matches… expecting us to finish at 2 or 3am and then back up that following day in a big quarter final after our opponents had, had a day and a half off was a tough thing for our boys to deal with."

Topics: tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia, spain

First posted February 25, 2020 15:22:20