NEW YORK, Sept 7 (Reuters) - The World Team Cup, a men's event offering high prize money and ranking points, could begin as soon as January 2019, sources have said following meetings between tennis stake holders in New York this week. MAJOR PRIORITYTennis Australia, which has invested heavily in the sport in recent years, including a state of the art facility in Brisbane, is backing the World Team Cup plans. Both have skipped Davis Cup matches in recent years, as have Murray, Switzerland's Roger Federer and most leading players. The original World Team Cup began in 1975 and was held in Duesseldorf from 1978 to 2012 but did not offer ranking points and suffered from being on the calendar just a week before the French Open. In a statement, the ATP said: "The ATP World Team Cup is an event that last took place in 2012, having been successfully staged in Duesseldorf, Germany, since 1978.

Source: The Star September 07, 2017 20:37 UTC