Posted by Peter Bodo, TENNIS.com
Well, here we go folks, it's time to contemplate and prepare to enjoy the most underrated of all international sporting events, the Dead Cup -- whoops, typo! Of course I mean the
Fed Cup, the women's version of Davis Cup. The first round will be played this weekend, so far off the radar of most U.S. sports fans that ESPN2 is going to have to launch one of those pilot-less drone aircraft just to locate it. They'd have a better chance stumbling upon Osama bin Laden.
For those of you who care (that is, both of you), the U.S. squad will be playing Belgium, at home (in Delray Beach, Fla.) for the right to play the winner of Russia vs. Spain. That one will be fought out in Moscow's "Small Sports Arena Luzhniki", which I presume is different from the Big Sports Arena Luzhniki, the place where they might stage, say, a U.S. vs. Russia Davis Cup tie, and from the Gigantic Sports Arena Luzhniki, which is where Russian star Marat Safin might choose to hold a Toga Party for his international cast of girlfriends.
This is a pity, because Fed Cup is a neat little event that ought to be a compelling Big Event. In fact, it is a major event in most nations, and I'll bet that the intriguing ties in Russia, France (hosting Japan) and Italy (hosting the People's Republic of China) will play big in the media of the nations involved. Here in the U.S., though, the unofficial official media embargo of all things Fed Cup-related will continue. ESPN has really stepped up in recent years to acknowledge the importance of Davis Cup, but even the people who may fire me at any moment for writing this might think Fed Cup is a bridge too far.
But let's be reasonable about this: NCAA women's basketball has been shoved down the U.S. viewing public's throat with a ramrod. Gender equality is a recurrent buzzword and an official social goal. Here we have the most important and prestigious international women's competition, featuring the most celebrated, successful and well-compensated women pro athletes of the world, in a format nearly identical to the one the men of the world use, and everybody shrugs and asks, "Hey, heard the latest one about Imus?"
Of course, it doesn't help that while Venus and Serena Williams have showed up to represent (in this case, the U.S., as in "us") -- that alone ought to amp up the proceedings -- Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters can't be bothered to play for Belgium. I guess Justine is off somewhere moaning about how tough it is to be Justine, and Clijsters is preparing to bombard us with the next crucially important if totally unsolicited update on her wedding plans. I shudder to think about the hurt the Sisters Slegehammer are going to lay on poor Kirsten Flipkens and Caroline Maes (current rank: 227), but that's life.
Or that's Fed Cup, anyway.
