What is the relevance of naming the players' Country in ATP tournaments ?!?

The relevance of naming the players' country is that it gives the average tennis fan more information regarding their favorite player. Since the sport of tennis is so international, it gives us all a tad bit more info on a player we are just getting to know.

***Why even mention the nationality of the player in an ATP tournament, including a Major ?***

I guess it's because we've always done it this way. Tradition! When you travel, one of the first questions people will ask you is: "Where are you from?" It's sort of like part of your resume, but not quite the same thing.

If tennis was always a team sport, then we would specify what team the player is on, like baseball, basketball, football, etc. But for the most part, [except for Davis Cup, as you mentioned] tennis isn't a team sport, it's an individual sport, and it's very *mixed* as far as many, many different countries being represented within the ATP and the WTA. So, we specify who plays for what country.

IMHO, the country adds a human touch to the match. The player is not a robot who hits tennis balls, he/she is a member of a country you can find on the map!

I suppose we could try and *hide* where all the players are from, but that would make things a bit strange, it seems to me.

What's the next step? Give every player a number, put the number on his/her shirt, put the number on the scoreboard instead of the name, so people won't know *anything* about the player, except who won the match?

"Wow, that #47 guy really hits the daylights out his serve."

"#24 just hit a beautiful drop shot."

Is that what you want?

No idea. Perhaps so we can understand the accents when they verbally express on court, i.e. Sharapova and Dementieva Specials...

:-D

IT ALLOWS THE UMPIRES & SPECTATORS A CHANCE TO GET THEIR DICTIONARIES & translators out to decIPHER THE BABBLE/./*(&(*%#