Fed Cup Continues to Take a Back Seat to Davis Cup Event

The yearlong road from Harare to Santander to Las Vegas has created many truths, many missed flight connections and many frequent flier miles. Along the way the load got lighter--we lost John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, both the Williams sisters--and by the time the last flight finally touched back down at LAX Saturday night, this bedraggled writer was definitely in a William Shatner-for-Priceline.com state of mind:

Now that this gig is done, I . . . AM . . . GONE.

Before this column retreats for a month’s hibernation, one final look at the top 10 differences between tennis’ annual battles of the sexes, Fed Cup and Davis Cup:

1. Empty seats: Apathy, thy name is Fed Cup. Of course we have heard how other countries embrace the Davis Cup competition, and the United States doesn’t. But there was evidence at the Davis Cup quarterfinal that a couple of big stars named Agassi and Sampras are capable of putting people in the stands, and attendance actually picked up on the final day when the match versus the Czech Republic was still in the balance. At last week’s Fed Cup finals in Las Vegas, the 10,000-seat Mandalay Bay Events Center was never more than half full for four days of matches.

2. Player participation: All you need to know is that McEnroe questioned the integrity of Sampras and an insulted Sampras wasn’t going to go out of his way to do McEnroe any favors by showing up in Spain. Lisa Raymond went to arbitration to be put on the Olympic team in Sydney, lost her case and harbored deep resentment toward U.S. captain Billie Jean King and the USTA. When Serena Williams, who went to Sydney instead of Raymond, declined to play Fed Cup, King phoned Raymond and left an SOS on Raymond’s answering machine. King got the response she was hoping for: Raymond was there in Las Vegas, swatting forehands during Thanksgiving week.

3. Mascots: There was a personal favorite in Zimbabwe, Jojo, the self-described “professional clown” of the home team. The Davis Cup match in Harare had Jojo on the brink of clown greatness--maybe even cable-television gig in his future. That all disappeared when Chris Woodruff steadied and Jojo was just another sad clown. The Fed Cup final? No clowns anywhere, although David Cassidy and Sheena Easton were playing the Copacabana Room at the Rio Suites.

4. American success: The U.S. women won the Fed Cup the last two years and fell short in the semifinals in 1998 at Spain in a heartbreaker of a match. The U.S. men haven’t won the Davis Cup since 1995 and lost in the semifinals at Spain in July, breaking John McEnroe’s heart. Even outside the tennis community, sports fans know when the U.S. loses in Davis Cup. These same fans are still trying to figure out what the Fed Cup is.

5. International incidents: Davis Cup: Grace Mugabe, wife of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, stormed out of the Harare venue, never to return, when she spotted a comical sign from an American about the fuel crisis in Zimbabwe. The Czech team protested the botched national anthem at the Forum. Fed Cup: Lively music by Spain’s Gipsy Kings, played during changeovers, criminally cut short after only a few seconds.

6. Captains: McEnroe didn’t like the Davis Cup format and took it personally when the top players snubbed the competition through either disinterest or injury. King wasn’t entirely pleased with the Fed Cup format in 2000 and had to cope with the absence of Venus and Serena Williams in Las Vegas. The difference? McEnroe bailed. King stayed.

7. Movable finals: Davis Cup final in 1999--Nice, France. Davis Cup final in 2000--Barcelona, Spain. Fed Cup final in 1999--Palo Alto. Fed Cup final in 2000--Las Vegas. Sangria vs. slot machines; tapas vs. $2.99 prime rib. Advantage, Davis Cup.

8. Quotes: McEnroe insulted his players and other captains, disrupted protocol when he showed up for the captains’ meeting in a robe, consistently gave great interviews. King praised her players and the other team, maintained protocol by wearing USTA-sanctioned sweatsuits, consistently gave great interviews.

9. Chants: No contest. A tame “USA, USA, USA” in Vegas, a mouthwatering “This meat is made for roasting” in Harare.

10. Confusion: At the Fed Cup, the players didn’t understand the revised format for 2001 and still looked confused after a brief explanation. Journalists realized there was a problem when it took longer to write about the new format than it did to watch one of Conchita Martinez’s matches. Then again, isn’t there Davis Cup qualifying going on for 2003 somewhere in Malta?

EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND

Raymond wasn’t about to spout any phony cliches. Yes, she was still bitter about Sydney. Grudge mode? Well, yes.

She never thought about simply erasing King’s message. They never spoke before the Las Vegas final. (Raymond sent word through an operative that she would play.)

“I’ve always loved playing Fed Cup,” she said. “We’ve got a great group of girls here this week. I’ve always made myself available for my country. I couldn’t let my bitterness and my sourness toward what happened to me affect my Fed Cup play.”

She watched swimming and track and field at the Olympics but not the tennis.

“I could care [not] less,” Raymond said. “I followed Lindsay [Davenport], but that was more of a friendship thing. They [the USTA] got what they wanted.”