By MARK VINSON
They could have chosen to go anywhere: the posh resorts of Southern California, the green clay of Florida, the enormous stadium in Flushing Meadow, N.Y. But when the United States Tennis Association realized it would be their turn to select the venue for the Davis Cup Final, they chose to come to Oregon.
For the first time in 23 years, Portland hosted world-class tennis last weekend as the United States ended the longest drought in its storied tennis history by beating Russia for the Davis Cup. It was the first time since 1995 that the U.S. has won the Cup, the first time since 1992 it had hosted a final.
By all accounts, everyone associated with the event was pleased. Memorial Coliseum, deemed too small for the Trail Blazers and Winter Hawks more than a decade ago, proved an excellent venue with more than 12,000 seats (Wimbledon’s Centre Court, by comparison, has about 13,000), good sightlines, seats close to the action and easy accessibility from nearby highways. The event sold out in less than 30 minutes when tickets first went on sale back in September. Then a few hundred more seats were made available last week and they, too, went quickly. All around town there were banners and signs letting visitors and residents alike know that a big event had indeed come to the Northwest. The Oregon Sports Authority, which lobbied the USTA hard to get the event, pegged the economic value to the state at $7.1 million dollars. That’s visitors staying at hotels, eating at restaurants and shopping.
The only drawback was the scheduling — which is done more than a year in advance — that put the event directly up against the Oregon-Oregon State football game. The perfect time to stage the event would have been THIS coming weekend. But you can’t have it all, I suppose.
The fans, while not as vocal as a typical U.S. Open crowd in New York, were enthusiastic and solidly behind the home side, even during Sunday’s reverse singles, which were played even after the U.S. had secured the 200-pound trophy. Davis Cup has a long, and in some ways endearing, reputation for partisan support, and Portland did not disappoint. This American team was the same one that had lost the 2005 semifinal to the Russians on clay in Moscow. But this, as Andy Roddick pointed out after winning his opening singles match on Friday, was a different time and a different place.
As for the competition itself, it’s difficult to say that there is a superior nation in men’s tennis at the moment. The last five years have yielded five different Cup winners. Certainly the U.S., with Roddick and James Blake, doesn’t take a back seat. The Americans pulled out a gutsy win in Sweden in the semifinals in September to get to Portland. Russia squeaked by Germany in the other semifinal. The two nations most prominently mentioned at the Grand Slams are Spain and Argentina, but aside from Rafael Nadal and perhaps U.S. Open semifinalist David Ferrer, they don’t have players who can compete on any surface other than clay. Australia — which is second to the U.S. all time in Davis Cups won — has fallen out of the World Group for 2008. France is down a bit and even the great Roger Federer can’t carry Switzerland by his lonesome.
Some will argue that tennis is dying, or even dead, in America and point to declining TV ratings as a barometer. Tennis doesn’t translate as well as some other sports on television. Without a high definition receiver, it’s difficult to appreciate the speed and power with which the men’s game is played today. Sitting court side brings a totally different perspective.
The truth is the game, as it always has, is going through a cycle. It’s a cycle similar to the one we witnessed in the late 1980s, when John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors were getting long in the tooth (well, in tennis years, anyway). America was down for a few years before the next wave of great players, including Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Michael Chang all came along more or less at once. Now that group has retired and it’s up to Roddick and Blake to carry the torch until someone else — maybe John Isner or Donald Young — matures to the point of becoming a top 10 player.
As for the sport as a whole, the entertainment value could be improved by the emergence of a true serve-and-volley player. It’s the contrast in styles that made rivalries like Connors-McEnroe, McEnroe-Ivan Lendl and Agassi-Sampras so compelling. Federer may prove to be the greatest of them all — he’s won 12 Grand Slam titles, all of them in the past four years — but he needs someone to challenge him at the top.
It would be great if the Northwest could somehow manage to get a regular ATP or WTA Tour stop. There are several in California, which will have to suffice for the time being. But because of what happened this weekend, Portland will always have its place in American tennis history.
And the show that Portland put on can do nothing but help the reputation of the city and region when it comes to attracting other major sporting events in the future.
