If you're anything like me, you love professional tennis but wish it was more accessible on a regular basis.
Sure, we are blessed to have the Tennis Channel, an outlet that does a fantastic job of covering the sport from all angles, but sometimes you just really want to see the game live.
The guys on tour are so talented that it can look easy on television. Watching live and in person reminds a person of just how fast and talented they are. Plus, you get a better feel for tension building with the match when you are there live.
The problem is that most people don't live anywhere near an ATP event. That's only becoming more true as time goes on. The tournaments in Los Angeles and San Jose have recently been moved to international locales and as tennis becomes even more of an international game, that's only going to continue.
Heck, even if you do live in a place that has a tournament, you only get to see the sport up close for one or two weeks a year.
This is precisely why I would suggest that all tennis fans go out and watch college tennis during the spring season.
College tennis at the highest levels gives you everything you love about the sport. These kids might not be Federer or Nadal, but they are very, very good. Most of them were blue chip recruits out of high school or highly-ranked junior players in their home countries.
You are guaranteed to see blistering serves, long rallies and fantastic doubles play. And because these kids might not be as adept at constructing long points as the pros are, you will likely see a lot more serve and volley. I take that as a positive as well.
The best part in my mind, though, is that it takes the things I love about tennis and combines them with the things I love about the more traditional team sports.
The players are competing with the players standing across the net from them, but the point gained from each individual win adds to their team total to help them beat the opposing team in what they call the dual match that pits the two teams against each other.
With this team aspect, the players get really into rooting for their teammates. When a dual match comes down to one final match between two players, it's not uncommon for the players from each team to huddle around the court and act like fans themselves. By this point, the actual fans in the stands will also have congregated around this one court, making what might have started off as a sparse crowd look like a much larger crowd.
Chances are, you have a Division I NCAA tennis program near you. They are littered all over the country. Some programs don't charge admission to get in and watch and even if they do, it will be at a fraction of the cost of attending a pro tournament or really any pro sport, for that matter.
Do yourself, and the sport, a favor. Find the college program nearest you and attend a match there. You will be glad you did and college tennis, dwarfed by the money sports of football and basketball, needs the support.
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