Over the years and across dozens of blogs, Deadspin has tried to make a case for watching and enjoying tennis, the sport being played in last weekend’s Davis Cup rubber between France’s Nicolas Mahut and Spain’s Marcel Granollers.

The International Tennis Federation voted Thursday to reformat the Davis Cup, the 118-year-old men’s international team tennis event, changing it from a competition that is played over four weekends throughout the year to a season-ending, 18-team tournament played over one week, World Cup–style.

It’s Friday afternoon, as good a time as any for your sporadic and entertaining Denis Shapovalov update. Today he was scrambling to all four corners of the court and getting awfully delicate with his forehand to break serve against Croatia’s Viktor Galovic.

Given the prim tone of the sport, genuine trash-talking is an unlikely sight in tennis. When Alexander Zverev visibly uttered “fuck” while starting down his vanquished opponent, fans in the gallery may have dropped their champagne flutes and lost their monocles due to violent eye-popping. That was fun, if rare, but…

As if to prove that Roger Federer isn’t the only 35-year-old holding onto his gifts, French veteran Nicolas Mahut is still looking spry on the doubles court, doing the incredible.

Here are the values at risk if you find Nick Kyrgios interesting, or, worse, deign to root for him: “self-respect,” “the surrender of your pride,” “Australia’s moral bottom line,” “our national sporting principles.”

Gael Monfils, the best living tennis player from France, was curiously not chosen to play the first round of the Davis Cup, the most important international tournament in the sport. He can blame his long-simmering beef with team coach Yannick Noah, national tennis legend—and father of Knicks sharpshooter Joakim—who…

Canada lost its Davis Cup tie to Great Britain 3-2 after Denis Shapovalov accidentally drilled the chair umpire in the face with a ball in reaction to losing a point.

Juan Martin del Potro slogged past Croatia’s Marin Cilic in five sets on Sunday to help Argentina take the Davis Cup. Somehow, he beat the world No. 6 despite breaking a left pinky while trying to catch one of Cilic’s serves in the deciding set. He wasn’t the only one to suffer from an errant Cilic serve during the…