Davis Cup Fever: Sick Sport Needs It

On behalf of the USTA, the International Tennis Federation and especially on behalf of our Davis Cup team, I wanted to personally thank the more than 30,000 fans who attended the Davis Cup matches last weekend at the Great Western Forum. The atmosphere, and your support, played a great role in helping the team rally and move on to the semifinals against Spain.

Those of you who did attend saw a new approach to the presentation of a tennis match, one we felt truly reflected the excitement of the game and the marriage of sports and entertainment. It is not something you will see at a Grand Slam this year, but we hope that we will be able to incorporate some aspects into enriching the fan experience at many major events.

Granted, we had some glitches over the three days, but in the end, we all feel we helped create a great atmosphere for the fans and the players.

JUDY LEVERING

President, U.S. Tennis Assn.

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Thank you for the wonderful coverage of the Davis Cup action today and all the lead-in articles through this past week.

Now for the quibble: What on earth were the organizers thinking of when the opening ceremonies tried to emulate the Phantom of the Opera with the dark, the fog machine and fireworks? Is this the right note for tennis?

Come on! This is the center of the entertainment world. We can do better than this. Try putting more of Davis Cup moments up on the TV screen. Give us a picture of what the Davis Cup looks like. The men in their red pants with their slingshots were fun to watch. They zapped the audience with T-shirt bundles and tennis balls, and in between, waved flags while running around the court. The matches are exciting, the audience is pumped up and loud, and then amazingly quiet during the play. Hurray for our team and captain John McEnroe.

NANCY MacCOON

Los Angeles

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The promoters, the Forum and Ogden food services couldn’t have performed worse at the Davis Cup matches if they had tried. Elian Gonzalez will be treated better in Cuba than fans were at this event. I’m not being funny. This was pathetic.

ADAM C. BALCH

Los Angeles