Italian tennis and padel broadcast platform SuperTennis has announced that it has secured the broadcast rights in that country for the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) annual Davis Cup (men's) and Billie Jean King Cup (women's) national Team competitions.
SuperTennis becomes the exclusive broadcaster of the two competitions, from the 2025 editions through 2028.
The service will broadcast every single tie from the qualifiers through to the pair of showpiece finals live, and additionally will also stream the matches on its SuperTenniX OTT service.
The rights package also includes exclusive rights to a variety of other tennis events in a range of categories, namely the youth-category Junior Davis Cup and Junior BJK Cup; the wheelchair category ITF Wheelchair World Team Cup, Wheelchair Singles Masters, and ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters; and a variety of individual events from the ITF Beach Tennis World Tour.
The rights to these competitions are currently held jointly by national broadcast Rai, pay-TV giant Sky Italia, and SuperTennis.
This deal was brokered by the T/Squared agency, an arm of TEAM Group.
SuperTennis is the dedicated terrestrial linear TV channel from Italy’s Italian Tennis and Padel Federation (FITP) governing body.
It is looking to capitalize on a raft of interest in tennis in Italy powered by current men’s world number one Jannik Sinner, who was a part of the Italian team that won the 2023 Davis Cup, and women’s world number 10 Jasmine Paolini, a BJK Cup finalist with Italy in 2023.
The 2024 edition of the Davis Cup finals and BJK Cup finals will take place in Malaga, Spain across November 13-20 (BJK Cup), and November 19-24 (Davis Cup).
Alongside the rights package just secured, the service also broadcasts select events from the men’s ATP and women’s WTA tennis tours.
As well as being SuperTennis’ first year as exclusive rightsholders for the Davis Cup and BJK Cup, 2025 will also be the first year the two competitions will utilize their new revamped formats.
As of 2025, the Davis Cup will move away from the September six-day, round-robin group stage structure it has utilized since 2019, to an abbreviated two-day format featuring seven home and away ties, with the seven winners joining the host country in the “Final 8” the following November.
The BJK Cup, meanwhile, now moves to emulate the Davis Cup’s “Final 8”, slimming down from the previous 12-team event to its new eight-team format, with seven round-robin group qualifiers held in single locations to decide the seven that will join the host nation as last eight participants.
In 2026, meanwhile, the BJK qualifiers will return to home and away fixtures instead of the new group stage.
