My First Davis Cup Tie

The Davis Cup Tie between the USA and Spain was the first time I attended a sporting event alone.

And it rocked my FACE OFF!

Let me clarify, thanks to fabulous new Twitter friends, I was not totally alone. But I was sitting in a section, upstairs, all by my lonesome. I was worried that I'd get bored, but boy was I wrong! Sitting on a one row seat with no one to talk to forced all of my attention on the court. And the atmosphere was electric!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I mumble, yell at the TV, run around the house screaming, and all sorts of other things while watching sports at home. During tense moments, I found myself sitting in the Frank Erwin Center mumbling and fist pumping quietly during points. To my surprise, this was happening all around me! There were fans, both cheering for the US and Spain, that were mumbling in two languages between points. How ever random that may seem, I found it totally comforting. I was not alone in my "talking to myself" craziness.

Thanks to Jen, who had TONS of luck on her side, by the time Sunday rolled around, I got to move down and sit in her seat on the lower level (because she had a better seat, 7 rows closer!). There I am, on the lower level, surrounded by 16,000 of my closest friends (NOT), cheering my voice out for the USA.

Alas, it did not work.

As you all know by now, we lost 3-1, and the 5th rubber was not played. Special thanks to the Bryan Brothers for giving us that glimmer of hope on Saturday!

Yes, this post is more about the experience than it is about the tennis. I wonder if Andy's shoulder injury was bothering him, and that's the reason he wasn't playing so well. Feliciano Lopez, who's been playin' like a man possessed, of late, played well. All credit to Mardy Fish, though. He took Feli 5 sets, and lost 6-8 in the 5th set, then took a set off Ferrer (something Andy couldn't do), only to lose 6-8 in the 4th set breaker. There were lots of moments where it could have swung in Mardy's favor. Instead, I've got a Spain vs France rematch to look forward to in September!

Many, many thanks to Jennifer Knapp for supplying me with my Davis Cup tickets! If she hadn't wanted a better seat, I might not have been able to make it.

So there it is, my second tennis tournament is on the books! Comparatively speaking, I felt like Davis Cup had more of a baseball game vibe (crowd wise), with all the families. It was really great to see so many people come out to support tennis! I was talking with one of my programmers before leaving, and he said he always assumed tennis was a sport for rich people. Happy to report there was a wide range of socioeconomic groups represented at Davis Cup! Though I feel rich people get better seats, no matter the sport. ;)

There are loads of great pics out there! Check out OnTheGoTennis for the Armada's victory dance. Racquet Required has some great stuff from the DC Draw Ceremony. For upclose Armada pics, check out @jusbjen's TwitPic stream.

Davis Cup + Austin (my college town) + new friends = One helluva weekend.