I knew today's NBC coverage would be a Williams sister-fest, but with Venus only on court for about a half hour before Anna Ivanovic retired with a knee injury, NBC scrambled and made a hash of its programming. First they showed the last 15 minutes of Federer/Soderling, which had already been broadcast on ESPN, then Venus/Anna on tape delay. When Anna hurt her knee, they covered the entire injury timeout without interruption. Now I like watching Anna get a massage as much as anyone, but why would you cut short match coverage to show an injury timeout?
But wait, it gets more bizzare. After showing Serena's quick thrashing of Hantchukova- which had also already been broadcast on ESPN- NBC then began to show us, get this, a lengthy RAIN DELAY on TAPE DELAY! So while there WAS live tennis going on, NBC showed us TAPED COVERAGE of the delay- including full coverage of Wimbledon's new roof opening and closing. Then they showed us play between Safina and Mauresmo when it finallyl resumed, and even showed us- on tape delay- their warmup! This rather than LIVE coverage of close matches involving Hewitt and Karlovic. Meanwhile, over on ESPN they were ahead in the Safina/Mauresmo match, so anyone flipping around would have already seen what NBC was showing.
Now I can understand the logic of showing us tennis on tape delay, but showing us rain delays, injury timeouts, warmups, and previously broadcast matches on tape delay? Give me a freaking break NBC. Please leave tennis coverage to someone else.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Fed Good Enough Against Giant Killer Soderling
Roger Federer's straight set win over Robin Soderling this morning was anything but routine, but Fed came up with the key shots when he needed to, and Soderling gave away way too many free points with sloppy unforced errors. Both players served brilliantly, and with the heat wave that's gripped London, the courts are playing fast and the rallies are short. This could be a massive advantage for Ivo Karlovic, the Croatian giant, who may face Federer next.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Where the Hell is Rafa? (When you need him?)
When I heard that Nadal had pulled out of Wimbledon my first reaction was that it would make life easier on Roger Federer, but when you look at the draw, the real beneficiary is Andy Murray. His half of the draw is filled with a slew of decent but ordinary players like Leyton Hewitt, Radek Stepanek, Tomas Berdych, Stan Wawrinka, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Giles Simon. The only legit threat to Murray making the final seems to be Roddick- but, in truth, I don’t fancy Andy’s chances. Federer, on the other hand, has Djokovic, Soderling, Karlovic, and Tommy Haas lurking on his end of the draw.
Media reports have indicated that Rafa’s parents have separated, and that the trauma of their split has taken a toll on his game. It’s impossible to know how bad Rafa’s knees are, but I think that he’s the kind of player that would rather skip a tournament then play at less than 100% and possibly lose early. Too bad for us, because the 2009 men’s field is really lacking without him in the top half of the draw.
Media reports have indicated that Rafa’s parents have separated, and that the trauma of their split has taken a toll on his game. It’s impossible to know how bad Rafa’s knees are, but I think that he’s the kind of player that would rather skip a tournament then play at less than 100% and possibly lose early. Too bad for us, because the 2009 men’s field is really lacking without him in the top half of the draw.
Wimbledon Must Change
I’m normally not one to embrace change over tradition, but Wimbledon must change. During the first week of the Championships, those of us lucky enough to have Direct TV, have been able to watch matches going on simultaneously across several channels. So when the networks were showing Serena and Venus playing doubles, I could flip to another match. Starting today, with NBC’s coverage, that liberty is gone. Wimbledon tradition is for all 16 remaining players in both the men’s and women’s draws to play on Monday, with no play on the middle Sunday. Serena hits the courts at Noon GMT on Monday, Venus at 1pm GMT, with Federer and Soderling taking the court at the same time. Those of us that want to watch Fed or any number of other matches are going to lose out, because we know that the Williams sisters trump everyone else when it comes to NBC’s coverage priorities.
If you have any interest in the 17 year old American qualifier, Melanie Oudin, she’ll be playing out on Court 18 on Monday- good luck catching anything other than (perhaps) the match point. We are also unlikely to be able to see the Verdasco/Karlovic, Hewitt/Stepanek, Djokovic/Sela, or Haas/Andreev matches either. NBC’s coverage is designed for soccer moms, whom they assume have the tennis attention span of your average house fly. So tennis addicts like me that want to watch all the men’s 4th round matches are up shits creek. You can try espn360.com but do you really like watching tennis on a computer? I sure don’t. Memo to the All England Club: spread the big matches out so we can actually watch the damn things!
If you have any interest in the 17 year old American qualifier, Melanie Oudin, she’ll be playing out on Court 18 on Monday- good luck catching anything other than (perhaps) the match point. We are also unlikely to be able to see the Verdasco/Karlovic, Hewitt/Stepanek, Djokovic/Sela, or Haas/Andreev matches either. NBC’s coverage is designed for soccer moms, whom they assume have the tennis attention span of your average house fly. So tennis addicts like me that want to watch all the men’s 4th round matches are up shits creek. You can try espn360.com but do you really like watching tennis on a computer? I sure don’t. Memo to the All England Club: spread the big matches out so we can actually watch the damn things!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Who's Left at Wimbledon
Nationalities in main draw at this year's Wimbledon:
USA- 15, 3 men made it to the 3rd round (Roddick, Fish, Levine)
Spain- 14, 6 in 3rd round (Verdasco, Almagro, Montanes, Robredo, Ferrero, and Ferrer)
Argentina- 12, all gone back to the pampas by now
France- 11, 2 left (Simon, Tsonga)
Germany- 10, 3 left (Haas, Kohlschreiber, Petzschner)
Russia- 8, 2 left (Davydenko, Andreev)
Great Britain- 5, Andy Murray remains
Other countries with players still in the draw: Switzerland (2), Australia, Czech Rep.(2), Austria, Chile, Romania, Italy, Israel, Croatia (2), Serbia, and Sweden.
A few surprises here. 6 of the final 32 are Spaniards- though few expect any of them to make the final 4. Only 3 Americans make it to the 3rd round, and James Blake isn't one of them. Wimledon hands out 4 wildscards to Brits, all of whom lost in the 1st round, 3 of them bowing out in straight sets.
USA- 15, 3 men made it to the 3rd round (Roddick, Fish, Levine)
Spain- 14, 6 in 3rd round (Verdasco, Almagro, Montanes, Robredo, Ferrero, and Ferrer)
Argentina- 12, all gone back to the pampas by now
France- 11, 2 left (Simon, Tsonga)
Germany- 10, 3 left (Haas, Kohlschreiber, Petzschner)
Russia- 8, 2 left (Davydenko, Andreev)
Great Britain- 5, Andy Murray remains
Other countries with players still in the draw: Switzerland (2), Australia, Czech Rep.(2), Austria, Chile, Romania, Italy, Israel, Croatia (2), Serbia, and Sweden.
A few surprises here. 6 of the final 32 are Spaniards- though few expect any of them to make the final 4. Only 3 Americans make it to the 3rd round, and James Blake isn't one of them. Wimledon hands out 4 wildscards to Brits, all of whom lost in the 1st round, 3 of them bowing out in straight sets.
Federer's Tough Draw
Rafael Nadal's absence from this year's men's draw has thrown the draw into disarray. Of the top four seeds, Novak Djokovic easily has the best draw. The highest seed in his quarter is Marin Cilic at #11; whereas in Federer’s quarter, you have Verdasco, the #7 seed, the #9 seed Tsonga, and the dangerous French Open finalist, Robin Soderling at #13. Nadal’s quarter just opened up significantly with Leyton Hewitt’s upset of Juan Martin Del Potro. At the moment, everyone’s money will be on Andy Roddick to come out of this quarter of the draw to meet Andy Murray in the semis. The highest remaining seed in Murray’s quarter is Gilles Simon, the #8 seed, and no one seriously expects him to best the Scotsman.
The question is- why does the top ranked player in the tournament, have by far the toughest draw? Fed’s section has Ivo Karlovic, the 6-10, massive serving Croat who is always a threat on grass, the dangerous Phillipp Kohlschreiber, the French Open finalist Soderling, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a big server that is tough to beat when he’s on.
Roger’s confidence is obviously sky high after his triumph at Roland Garros, and he is still obviously the favorite to come through this section of the draw, but any of the aforementioned players could easily push him to 4 or 5 sets, which will take a toll as he moves on to an inevitable meeting with Djokovic in the semis and Murray in the finals.
The question is- why does the top ranked player in the tournament, have by far the toughest draw? Fed’s section has Ivo Karlovic, the 6-10, massive serving Croat who is always a threat on grass, the dangerous Phillipp Kohlschreiber, the French Open finalist Soderling, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a big server that is tough to beat when he’s on.
Roger’s confidence is obviously sky high after his triumph at Roland Garros, and he is still obviously the favorite to come through this section of the draw, but any of the aforementioned players could easily push him to 4 or 5 sets, which will take a toll as he moves on to an inevitable meeting with Djokovic in the semis and Murray in the finals.
Goodbye Sharapova
It's a sad statement on the state of women's tennis when Maria Sharapova is counted on to drive viewership to the women's draw. Sharpova bowed out to the 45th ranked Gisela Dulko from Argentina in the second round, and ESPN and NBC are apparently panicking. I understand that the networks need "personalities" to sell the sport, but does Maria really fit the bill?
Yes, she is attractive, but there are certainly many other even more attractive women on the pro-tour. Yesterday, Maria wasn't even the most attractive player on the court- I would guess that most men would prefer the lovely Argentine over the grunting Russian. Anna Ivanovic may be the most attractive woman on the pro tour, but she somehow still flies under the radar here in the U.S.
American televsion networks that cover women's tennis have long disregarded average looking, top ranked players in favor of covering the matches of more nubile hotties. When Lindsay Davenport was ranked number 1, she generated less TV interest than Anna Kournikova- a very average player- even when Anna was below the age of consent.
Aside from Sharapova, the only other female players that are currently considered "marketable" on American TV are the Williams sisters. The networks would rather show the Williams sisters annihilating some pathetic pairing in a first round doubles match, then a competitive match involving the world's number one- Dinara Safina.
In fairness, there are a preponderance of colorless automatons from the old iron curtain countries. In this year's Wimbledon draw, 53 of the 128 women are from the old eastern block, with 15 of the top 32 seeds as well. At the moment, women's tennis is little more than a diversion for me- something to endure while waiting for the men's matches to come on. Sorry ladies, but with or without Sharapova, the women's game needs a boost.
Yes, she is attractive, but there are certainly many other even more attractive women on the pro-tour. Yesterday, Maria wasn't even the most attractive player on the court- I would guess that most men would prefer the lovely Argentine over the grunting Russian. Anna Ivanovic may be the most attractive woman on the pro tour, but she somehow still flies under the radar here in the U.S.
American televsion networks that cover women's tennis have long disregarded average looking, top ranked players in favor of covering the matches of more nubile hotties. When Lindsay Davenport was ranked number 1, she generated less TV interest than Anna Kournikova- a very average player- even when Anna was below the age of consent.
Aside from Sharapova, the only other female players that are currently considered "marketable" on American TV are the Williams sisters. The networks would rather show the Williams sisters annihilating some pathetic pairing in a first round doubles match, then a competitive match involving the world's number one- Dinara Safina.
In fairness, there are a preponderance of colorless automatons from the old iron curtain countries. In this year's Wimbledon draw, 53 of the 128 women are from the old eastern block, with 15 of the top 32 seeds as well. At the moment, women's tennis is little more than a diversion for me- something to endure while waiting for the men's matches to come on. Sorry ladies, but with or without Sharapova, the women's game needs a boost.
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