THE DAY DAVIS CUP DIED • DWIGHT DAVIS AND HAZEL WIGHTMAN • BOTH EVENTS GONE • AN OBITUARY TO TENNIS GLOBALLY

Written by: Staff on 12th September 2018

THE DAY DAVIS CUP DIED • DWIGHT DAVIS AND HAZEL WIGHTMAN • BOTH EVENTS GONE • AN OBITUARY TO TENNIS GLOBALLY

epa06655938 Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium in action against Ryan Harrison of USA during their match at the Davis Cup World Group quarterfinals between Belgium and the USA in Nashville, Tennessee, USA 08 April 2018. USA won the quarterfinal round held from 06 to 08 April. EPA-EFE/RICK MUSACCHIO |

Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium in action against Ryan Harrison of USA during their match at the Davis Cup World Group quarterfinals between Belgium and the USA in Nashville, Tennessee, USA 08 April 2018. USA won the quarterfinal round held from 06 to 08 April. EPA-EFE/RICK MUSACCHIO

By LOU Fuller

This week “it” happened. The death Of Davis Cup. It’s weird because very few even knew it was about to face the electric chair. The mass murder to a sport that’s already smoke and mirrors and broken. (Live feeds don’t lie. Empty courts and stands and stadiums..)

️Maybe, now it’s just more broken. Time will tell. But it was not voted on by the players!

️Maybe this will bring a boycott? Maybe tennis players are unable to find the vision and leadership the sport needs? The calendar is crazy. Crazy and getting crazier. Players are supposed to promote themselves. Their coaches or anyone and everyone in their teams say stay off “social”. In the old days. “Don’t read the newspapers”.

Is it now more of a mess? ️Maybe, but the men and ladies in the expensive suits had all the voting power. That and two billionaires and a few big sports names, and a soccer player.

And it’s been ️maybe a five year plan. It has taken thought. This didn’t happen overnight. It happened over years of setting up alliances.

So no more Davis Cup as we’ve known it for 100 plus years. Ok. There’s no one that believed it didn’t need a few tweaks and changes here and there. But this. Phew. No love in tennis. It proves daily love means nothing in tennis. Zero. Money talks. Tennis schedule is a total disaster. And it just got worse. Now we have two clay seasons. The one before the grass and the one after the grass. The U.S. Open series seems to have disappeared. This year all rained out. Each city. Hot. Humid. And rain, rain, rain. The tennis gods are mad.

Thank you all the AUSTRALIAN Living Legends that spoke up. The true champions really tried albeit a bit late. The Brits came in with the LTA threatening membership disappearing if their country chose to vote to kill Davis Cup. But other than that. It was just a quiet death. So sad.

When both Hazel Wightman and Dwight Davis formed “their cups ” it was for the sport and fans to follow something special. The Wightman Cup died years ago. We remember bugging Bud Collins to help change the Fed Cup name to Wightman Cup in Hazels honor. Nope. Too busy. Ok. Yes she was from his area of the United States. They both were.

Dwight Davis was a Harvard Man. All his friends teased him. He was a man of vision and he held his event. It grew globally Over 100 years.