The final of the tennis world cup equivalent was played over the weekend in Lille where France entertained Croatia. France lost and outgoing captain, Yannick Noah, seemed more than unhappy with his team. Players who were "unavailable", loss of form among players who have virtually no individual victories this year (despite having reached the final of the Davis Cup) have made Noah decide to quit tennis definitively.
But equally upsetting to fans was the decision by the international federation to change the format of the Cup so that in future the final will be played in one country, decided by the federation, in 2019 in Madrid, over a two week period towards the end of the year. This will put an end to the fervent home supporters attending the matches they say (what if the final had been in Croatia? - perhaps a weekend trip is easier than a couple of weeks in Spain). No doubt the organisers will be thinking of the extra TV revenue this world cup like final will generate, but it certainly upset Noah and some of the team's players and followers.
