Tennis news - Gerard Pique 'pessimistic' about Davis Cup finals

The Barcelona defender revamped the competition last year, changing its format and holding the finals over one action-packed week in the Spanish capital.

Tennis is one of the worst-affected sports by the COVID-19 outbreak, with Wimbledon cancelled and hopes that the sport can be played professionally again in 2020 fading.

And Pique believes that the Davis Cup could be one of the casualties as he is not attracted to the idea of playing the event behind closed doors.

“I’m a bit pessimistic, to have the Davis Cup with no fans is difficult,” Pique told Movistar.

“There is a lot of uncertainty. We are listening to what the sport’s ministry and the government are telling us about whether we’ll have the ability to have fans.”

“People are obviously working from home, and we can’t go to Madrid to look at the facilities.

“I think in the next few weeks we’ll have more clarity but right now, we’re trying to be prepared.”

The clay and grass court seasons of the ATP and WTA circuits have been cancelled for the year, with Roland Garros postponed until late September. The US Open remains set to go ahead as scheduled but with New York one of the epicentres of the epidemic, it could also fall victim to COVID-19.