Tennis fans in Australia were thrilled to see their local tennis stars play at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club here in Melbourne! The tennis club hosted to the Aussie and US tie over the weekend with top players from the respective nations coming down to play at this historic venue where it ones was the location for the Australian Open back in the 70’s and the 80’s.

I, however, was contemplating if I should go have my first experience participating as part of the Davis Cup crowd and atmosphere. There were much to be settled over this weekend and watching live tennis, as big as the event may be, wasn’t really much of a priority for me at the moment. Having just moved in to my apartment only on Friday afternoon from a serviced apartment, bids just having more to do on my list. Therefore, decided to drop the idea of going for the event and probably catching it live on TV.

There’s just something very different from watching a sports event or any event, for that matter, live or through the television. Be it your favourite rock band playing at Wembley Stadium or the tennis mens’ singles finals at Wimbledon. There is always going to be that difference in atmosphere and environment. Having to go through huge masses of people just to get to the venue, queuing up to get tickets and entering the venue, queuing up to get food and beverages, and if the event is held outdoors, having to deal with the weather conditions (rain or shine), all these compared to sitting on your couch with a bottle of chilled cola in your hand and a bag of chips in the other, just can’t outweigh the perks of actually being there at the stadium, cheering your favourite player or team, shouting the lyrics to your favourite song or just being part of the atmosphere.

From a production point of view, a downside for watching from your TV is, you only watch what the producer wants you to watch, and you only hear what the microphones pick up at the venue. You don’t really have a panoramic view of the venue and not having the freedom to see what you want to see. As a spectator of a tennis match, usually the best seats would be behind the player at the end of the court, this allows you have the view of the entire court and the ball, without having to turn your head left and right while the players are in a rally. You can’t get that at home, however the production team would try to achieve that view, but nothing beats being there in person.

Getting on to the deep attention and hyper attention wagon, being part of a crowd at an event would generally mean having deep attention in order for you to achieve the full experience of being at the event and soaking up the atmosphere. It wouldn’t be so much of just going to the venue to watch a live spectacle, but immersing yourself in the sights and sounds of the whole exhibit. Whereas catching it on TV would sometimes mean you have the tendency of going off to do something else while leaving the TV on, such as checking your email, engaging in social media, or making a sandwich. There’s only so much time one can spend on just watching TV without doing something else, with the addition of commercial breaks in between, just adds on to nudging an individual to do something else.

Anyway, back to Davis Cup action, unfortunately, US moves on to the next round while Australia’s dreams of winning the Davis Cup has to be postponed for at least another year.