POLL RESULTS: Enthusiasm for the Fed Cup in Everett

It seems there’s real enthusiasm for the Fed Cup in Everett.

The Fed Cup, women’s tennis’ premier international team event, is coming to Angel of the Winds Arena this weekend. The U.S. faces Latvia in a Fed Cup Qualifier on Friday and Saturday, with the winner advancing to the Fed Cup Finals on April 14-19 in Budapest, Hungary.

And the competing teams are pulling out all the stops, as some of the best women’s tennis players in the world will be on hand. The U.S. team includes all-time great Serena Williams, recent Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin amd teen sensation Coco Gauff. The Latvian team features 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.

Therefore, this week’s Seattle Sidelines poll asked readers about their excitement level for the Fed Cup coming to Everett. Here’s how you responded:

POLL: What is your excitement level for the Fed Cup, women’s tennis’ biggest international team competition, coming to Everett this weekend? Full context, including a rundown of the Serena Williams-led U.S. team, here: https://t.co/HmOTpzUhUD

— Nick Patterson (@NickHPatterson) February 3, 2020

Add it all up and more than half the responders — 64% — said their excitement level was high. Another 15% claimed a moderate excitement level, 5% said their excitement level was low, and 16% said they had none.

This seems to be mirrored by ticket sales, as the only tickets still available on the Angel of the Winds Arena website are a handful of ADA tickets for Friday night’s matches. Saturday’s matches are sold out.

This week’s poll is a good example of the difference between voters on the blog and voters on Twitter. On the blog, the vote was overwhelmingly positive, with 79% saying they had a high level of excitement. However, there was a stark contrast on Twitter, where the highest number of voters — 44% — said they had no interest.

This did not come as a surprise. Voting on the blog is an active process. One has to click on the link or the headline to get to the post, then read through the text before getting to the poll. Therefore, blog voters tend to require a certain level of interest to vote in the first place. Meanwhile, voting on Twitter is more of a passive process, as voters have the poll delivered right to them, so a previous interest level isn’t required to vote.

There’s also a different demographic in blog voters and Twitter voters. Blog voters tend to be people who have ties to Snohomish County, while many of my Twitter followers hail from outside the country borders. My guess is that people are going to be more interested in something that’s happening in their own community, rather than outside it.

All that said, how can one not be excited about this? We’re getting Serena Williams! The greatest women’s tennis player of all-time. An athlete some argue is the greatest among all sports in the 21st century. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the best there’s ever been right here in our own backyard. I know I’m fired up.

Anyway, it’s all getting started Thursday, when the draw takes place at noon at Angel of the Winds Arena to determine the matchups for the tie. And Friday night we’ll see just how enthusiastic Everett is for elite women’s tennis.