I was watching the World Cup Final between France and Italy along with probably a billion other people around the globe and I was thinking about the national fervor which grips fans in many countries during the tournament.  Tennis is probably (one of) the only other truly international sports, but yet besides selected, spirited Davis Cup and Fed Cup ties, there is never the same pride of country on display.  Fans sometimes cheer very loudly for their local heroes, especially for French players in Paris and the lone Brit (and now Scot!) playing at Wimbledon, but otherwise there isn’t the same passion amongst fans watching tennis matches.  Could there be?  There are constant rumblings about what to do about the Davis and Fed Cup scheduling and the length of the tennis tournament calendar in general.  One solution, which would simplify the calendar while also generating even stronger nationalistic interest, would be to hold a combined Davis and Fed Cup tournament with sixteen teams during one week in late November.  The event could be held every year, or possibly every two years, and rotate continents as the World Cup does.  Just a thought…