Monday, February 10, 2014   The opening round of Fed Cup ties this past weekend resumed debate over the annual international competition. While not perfect, it may just be good enough. Photo Credit: US Fed Cup Twitter The opening round of Fed Cup competition played out this weekend in various parts of the world. While some tennis fans expressed enthusiasm about the event, others found yet another opportunity to gripe about what’s “wrong with Fed Cup.” The common complaint is that Fed Cup, without the participation of the sport’s superstars, is meaningless. Some of this is due to having ties scheduled at awkward times throughout the year, usually after the conclusion of a Grand Slam. That means that either top players are tired or injured having just competed at a Major. Or they are uninterested in playing, period. This past weekend was no exception. World No. 1 Serena Williams is out with a back injury, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus is sidelined with a foot problem, while Maria Sharapova was too busy being a Winter Games Ambassador in Sochi, Russia. Defending champion, Italy, had their go-to team of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci beg off taking part in a tie versus the U.S. citing their commitment to play at the WTA event in Doha the following week. One would expect that without these names, fan attendance would be sparse. But that wasn’t the case this weekend. Plenty showed up in Bratislava to cheer on Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova as she led Slovakia against a deep German team that included Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic. Poland’s biggest star Agnieszka Radwanska used her skills to lift her squad over Sweden while Sam Stosur helped Australia overwhelm a diminished Russian team in Hobart. (More about Russia in a second). And in Cleveland, despite the absence of Serena Williams or Errani or Vinci, a healthy amount of people showed up, even though the young U.S. team lost 3-1 to their Italian opponents. Packed venues and raucous crowds are still not good enough for some pundits. That’s especially true in America, where Fed Cup, for a variety of reasons, still struggles to gain widespread interest. Many argue that in order to add excitement and increase participation from the sport’s elite tier, Fed Cup should go back to being held over a one-week period with all teams present in a single city. While that might solve some of the current issues, good luck trying to get all players to agree on a specific week on the calendar. Some have thrown around the idea of scheduling ties every two years instead of one, but thus far sponsors have shown zero interest in that concept. The fact remains that there is no guaranteed way to secure the biggest names in tennis, even when healthy, to commit to Fed Cup. Fed Cup participation showed a marginal increase when it became a prerequisite to Olympic participation. Of course, many complained the rule was too strict. But it certainly did not inspire many of Russia’s top pros to take part in last year’s Fed Cup final that saw Italy demolish a weak Russian team 4-0 in the final. Some of that was due to injury and some because the Tournament of Champions event was happening the same week. While the absence of Russia’s better players was not ideal, it allowed younger athletes and not-so-famous ones to gain invaluable experience on an international stage. Fed Cup will never be perfect. While having the sport’s top names compete at every tie is the goal, it’s a very lofty one. Especially in this era of an already over-packed and grueling regular season. But, as we saw this weekend, the opportunity to see world class tennis players, no matter what their ranking, compete for their country continues to compel many tennis fans around the globe to get out and see the action first hand. For some of those fans, it might be their only chance to do so. And for a sport that aims to keep growing, isn’t that the best possible result, no matter who wins or loses?