Two-faced former Barcelona Soccer Legend Gerard Pique, now front man, founder and president of Kosmos Holding was quick to jump on the bandwagon in the wake of the spectacular retreat of the money grabbing owners of their proposed closed shop twelve team European Super League of Soccer.
Pique yesterday Tweeted “Football belongs to the fans. Today more than ever”
However he was soon kicked into touch by Tennis professionals including Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin who fired back with:-
“What about DAVIS CUP ?!?” and “What about tennis?? #DavisCup”
It was Pique’s Kosmos Holding sports and media investment group, with no heritage in the sport of tennis who killed off the hundred and eighteen year tradition of Tennis’ flagship Men’s Team event The Davis Cup by striking a 25 year US$3 billion deal with ITF “to generate substantial revenues for global tennis development”
Sound familiar?
Pique, who’s long time partner is Colombian songstress Shakira was ordered by a Spanish court in 2019 to pay €2.1 million to the tax authorities following his conviction for image rights fraud.
Other financial behemoths jumped on board the gravy train, noodle magnate Hiroshi Mikitani of Rakuten and Oracle oracle tech billionaire and tennis nut Larry Ellison.
The first edition of the re-vamped event intended to emulate the Soccer World Cup was a best of 3 set week long shoot outs was played in Madrid’s Caja Magica in November 2019.
Despite the fact that home team Spain became the inaugural winners the event failed to catch the public imagination and was sparsely attended.
The 2020 version was cancelled due to the Covid Pandemic
As the poet and sage Geoffrey Chaucer warned “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”
ITF bosses unanimously backed the deal which was hailed by ITF President David Haggerty, as a “game-changer” for tennis.
Time will tell.
