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Day 1 at the Atlanta Tennis Championships – A “Nethead” in Atlanta

July 20, 2010 By Tennis Panorama News

The following is a contribution from one of the USA Netheads attending the Atlanta Tennis Championships. The “Netheads” are group of  fans who cheer for the US Davis Cup squad around the world. It does not reflect the opinions of Global Village Tennis News.
The real tournament began Monday.  Appropriately enough for the first US Open Series tournament, it was USA day on the stadium court.  It started out with Michael Russell taking out Benjamin Becker, followed by Mardy Fish defeating John Ward.  Last but not least, the finale was all-American doubles with the Isner/Blake team eliminating Ginepri/Sweeting.   The doubles had the added regional flavor of a Georgia Bulldog (Isner) battling a Florida Gator (Sweeting).
None of the matches were exceptional.  Russell played well but Becker definitely helped Michael’s cause by being a little off.  Mardy was very workmanlike in defeating John Ward. Ward hit a few good shots but he played as if he did not want to draw attention to himself and to the fact he is from Great Britain.   I am sure he may have been thinking there could be no better way to remind folks about the BP situation than to have a Brit knock out a popular American.
The doubles match was the most fun match of the session.  Some of that may have had to do with the sun having set and life was much cooler and less humid in the stands as well as on the court.  Isner started slow, struggling with return of serve, but got his game together in time to help Blake pull out the match.  It was nice to see James smiling on the court since that has been a rare sight in the last few years.
The tennis was enjoyable, but for me, it seemed something was missing.   It came to be during the Fish match.  The silence in the stadium was deafening to me.  From the point of this Nethead, Davis Cup junkie, it was just too darn quiet in the stadium.  No “GO USA.”  I only heard the most obvious cheer, “GO FISH,” once.  The quietness was driving me crazy.  If you have ever been to a Davis Cup tie, you’ll know what I mean.
Not only was the noise missing but also the intensity on the court and in the crowd.  A scenario like John Ward apologizing to some patrons because his serve bounced on to their champagne table at the end of the court will never occur at a Davis Cup match.  Champagne tables and apologizing are just too laid back for Davis Cup.
But I’ve got to remember there will be over 40 singles and doubles matches as opposed to 5 matches in a Davis Cup tie so the fans have to pace themselves.  I’ve got to remember you’ll have American playing against American so “GO USA” cheers won’t always work.   And I’ve got to realize that a fan driving 15-30 minutes to see a match may not have as much at stake as Netheads flying 7-12 hours to get to a Davis Cup venue.
Even so, I was disappointed during the Gilles Muller match on Saturday.  Trying to be a friendly member of the host city, at one point I stood up and yelled “LUXEMBOURG.”    But as hard as it is to believe, there was not one other Luxembourgian in the crowd who stood up and yelled with me.  I guess Luxembourgians are not as intense as Netheads either.

Filed Under: Contributors, Features, tournament coverage, tournaments Tagged With: Atlanta Tennis Championships, Contributors, Features, original content, tournament coverage

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