Hometown crowd not your usual tennis fans

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Tennis fans have a fever and apparently the only prescription is… more cowbell!

The Davis Cup of tennis kicks off today in Vancouver with Canada’s Milos Raonic in a singles match against Japan’s Tatsuma Ito and you can expect the home crowd to toss the usual tennis fan decorum right out the window.

“The Davis Cup is a little different breed than the usual tennis tournament,” says David d’Arge with Rackets and Runners.  “It just seems to bring out a fan that’s maybe a little more ‘involved,'” he chuckles.

Normally in tennis, fans will politely cheer during stoppages in play or changeovers, but the Davis Cup is not Wimbledon.

“You’re going to find a little more face paint, a little louder crowd, a little more noise and it might stretch beyond the boundaries of politeness at times. There are still rules, but they are stretched a little bit in Davis Cup play.”

Or a lot.

Cue the rabid, flag-waving, chanting, cowbell-ringing Canadians fans supporting their home team.  “The international, partisan crowds can definitely push the boundaries and the chair umpire will give warnings. If it continues they can deduct points in a match and eventually games,” explains d’Arge.

“If it goes really crazy you can default the whole match. It doesn’t happen very often, but I would say that in Davis Cup play there are more than a few warnings handed out to the home side crowd.”

D’Arge says Canadians, in particular, have a reputation for being rowdy.

“The atmosphere is kind of like a hockey game at times. They’ve got to learn to rein it in but there’s a lot of excitement in the crowd because tennis is as big as it has ever been in Canada. We’ve got some of the best players we’ve ever had so it’s worth getting excited for.”

News1130 will have full coverage of this weekend’s Davis Cup in Sports at :15 and :45 past the hour.

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