The Davis Cup just made an appearance here in Austin. The Davis Cup is an international competition between 125 countries that occur on an annual basis. This year the number one ranked country in the world Spain beat the sixth ranked United States. The crowds were good the hospitality was excellent, the games were even great. However something is missing with this sport there is not a ground swell of passion like we have for football, basketball or even baseball. People reschedule you’re their life in order to make football and basketball fit in.
What happened to the love of tennis in this country? There are only three times a year I may pay attention to tennis, Wimbledon, the US Open and if a major professional tournament is in town. There are very few Americans that are playing at the top level of the game now. Most people may know Serena and Venus Williams, Marty Fish and local hero Andy Roddick.
Tennis is a very inexpensive sport to play and can be readily made available to the masses, but it isn’t. The Williams Sisters are watched and adored, but they do not inspire people to play the game. Arthur Ashe was a well-respected and he inspired us to play tennis. Even the video playing generation does not clamor to play the game via their XBOX or Wie consoles. If you go ask the average person to name four Americans that are currently playing on the professional tour, less than 10 percent surveyed would be able to pass this test.
What can be done to restore the broad appeal? The powers that be needs to remove the stigma of Tennis being only a Country Club sport and bring it back to middle America and most importantly back to the inner city. Tennis should increase their marketing and courts need to made available to the entire community. In the 80’s there were plenty of public tennis courts for the average person to play on at a very reasonable price.
Today I see tennis courts at some apartment that are in vast need of repair and most public courts not being used. Tennis need to adopt a program similar to the Pro Golf Association First Tee program which bring the game of golf to people who may not be able to afford to play or get quality teaching from a professional at no cost. Tennis needs some variety, color and not just the clones that are playing the game. Doing these things may just restore the domination the Americans once had across the world in tennis.
By Terry Davis
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