LONDON, (Reuters) – Tennis’s flagship team events the Davis Cup and Fed Cup Finals have been postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said yesterday.

The revamped 18-nation Davis Cup Finals, launched last year in Madrid, was set to return to the Spanish capital in November but it will now take place 12 months later.

The ITF partnered with Kosmos, the investment firm of Barcelona soccer player Gerard Pique, to revamp the Davis Cup as a World Cup-style team tennis event.

The same 18 nations to qualify for the Finals will contest next year’s week-long event.

When the Fed Cup Finals event was postponed in March there remained the possibility that it would take place later in the year.