Overloaded schedules of the world's top tennis players will "almost certainly rule out early firm commitment to next year's Davis Cup," but that is "all right" with the event's promoters, the ITF, according to Peter Bodo of ESPN.com. The ITF also "promotes the Olympics," and a "weak Davis Cup competition once every four years is a small price to pay for the increased attention that will be paid to Olympic tennis by players and spectators alike." Tennis' "fifth Grand Slam" will take place in a "newly built tennis stadium at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and tennis can partly thank the Davis Cup for that." The international team competition has "had a renaissance, and elite players have seen a rise in the prestige -- and rewards -- of playing for their nations." That has "been a plus for the Olympic effort." Hosting the tennis portion of the Olympics on the grass at Wimbledon in '12 "certainly boosted the credibility of Olympic tennis." Just as "significant, Olympic tennis at Wimbledon was an absorbing competition at which the top players dominated." Rafael Nadal was the "only Big Four player who wasn't in the semifinals." Now, players who "once shunned Olympic tennis have come to embrace it." Bodo wrote it is a "shame the Olympics are [only] held every four years, but a fifth Grand Slam ever four years is better than no fifth major at all" (ESPN.com, 12/2).
