Davis Cup crowd control needed

Crowd control has become a big issue in the Davis Cup competition, particularly recently in some South American countries. In one of the worst issues of unruly crowd behaviour in the Cup, unruly Chilian spectators forced the Argentine team to withdraw from their Davis Cup qualifying match. The crowd, angered by line calls against their player threw fruit, coins, bottles and plastic chairs onto the court. Argentine player Mariano Zabeleta's father suffered a head injury which required 10 stitches. In response the International Tennis Federation has kicked both Argentina and Chile out of this year's Davis Cup competition. Tennis authorities need to take stronger measures to enforce crowd control in heated situations. This kind of outcome is unacceptable in our genteel sport of tennis.

It is both a good and an unfortunate part of the game that passions tend to run high in the Davis Cup. This team competition is a rarity for tennis, with only the World Team Cup also having teams representing their country. It gives tennis players a chance to step out of the selfish cycle of trying to play and win for themselves and for the money. In this instance they are given the opportunity to play and bond with team mates from their country. It puts a different type of pressure on players because they hold the hopes of their nation in their hands, not just a measley quarter final in the Bombay Coca Cola Cup; as on the regular tour.

This type of pressure also tends to bring out a greater response from crowds, and can lead to heated situations like the one which occured in Chile. This problem is intensified by the fact that the matches are played in front of what tends to be a very biased crowd, since one team will be operating with a home advantage. It makes for great atmosphere, but can lead to crowd problems as well.

It is important that tennis adminstrators do not look to take away the ability of the crowd to express themselves and to demonstrate their enthusiasm. But they must find a way to prevent the mob like behaviour of some members of the crowd recently in Chile.

Tournament News

Indian Wells: Alex Corretja def. Thomas Enqvist 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 Miami, Fla. : Pete Sampras def.Gustavo Kuerten 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (10-8) Atlanta Tennis Challenge: Andrew Ilie def.Jason Stoltenberg 6-3, 7-5 Casablanca, Morocco:

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