I'm about to go over to TWOPcon and start a topic for Tennis Cons--Summer 2005. I guess we should start with the US Open since those tickets go on sale Saturday. Wish me luck, I know I'm going to do something wrong, and come join me over there quick.

Wow- what a great match between Nadal and Gasquet. A fantastic match between two 18 year olds who are only a couple of weeks apart. Richard has some fantastic, beautiful shots in his arsenal and Rafael showed that he can pull out a win even when he is playing far from his best.

Once again, really enjoyed the commentating. They offer quite good analysis and are realistic about the praise.

Have to agree with them when they talked about how the disagree about the overuse of injury timeouts. Gasquet was practiaclly getting a massage table and candle treatment out there.

OMG, watched a bit of Nadal v. Coria on ESPN2 last night and was amazed at the restrained commentary by the British broadcaster. Is this how the other half lives? Silence in the booth during the point, then on-target discussion?

Making me jealous you two. . . ESPN2 will be airing a recap of Monte Carlo at 3:30am (or they aired it last night at 3:30 am, I guess I'll figure it out when I check my TiVo when I get home).

So, how quickly can I get to Houston tonight? I'd pay good money to see this.

Oh snap! According to THe Tennis Channel website and my Yahoo listings, I get The Tennis Channel now! However, when I tune to the channel, it says Not Authourized or some such. I wonder if I have to buy some sort of special package?

I was watching an old Serena match on ESPN classic today and the commentators were talking about a meltdown that Andy Roddick had in the locker room. Apparently he was playing Hewitt and was getting his ass kicked so he took a bathroom break and was in there a wee bit too long. They said that someone went in to get him and he apparently got very rude. Does anybody know anything about this?

Okay, I've now seen my first full tournament on the Tennis Channel and I am surprised to say that I am about 60-40 on whether I prefer its coverage to US coverage. Obviously the big thing is showing all the matches. That's the kicker. But the actual coverage is duller than dishwater. I like that they take all the players seriously and that it's hype free. But I seriously miss the lack of instant replay, and the announcers are charisma-free and not insightful enough to make up for it.

I forgot to add that I swear I find the picture less sharp on TTC. Is that more likely to be my imagination or something based in reality? Does anyone know?

I watched Fed Cup on ESPN Classic Sunday.

Lindsay is in such great form. I hope she pulls another major out. It's been so heart wrenching to watch her make it to the finals and then lose it in the last set.

Also liked to see the comaraderie among the US players. In her post match interview, Lindsay said she made Venus and Serena promise to go to Russia for the next Fed Cup match-up. Good for her. Obviously the Russian team will be more competitive than the Belgian team sans Kim & Justine.

And Chris Evert was in the booth for a good part of the first set. Love Chrissie!

You probably do have to get some special package- but it's normally really cheap. I pay less than $3 a month.

Harry- which tourney did you watch? The commentators for Houston weren't that good but I thought the ones for Barcelona were better (though they just showed a semi and the final). And I have to say whenever they showed Jimmy Arias for Houston I was very distracted by his complete lack of upper lip. I really enjoyed the Barcelona crew's comments about Juan Carlos during the final- it seems like he has a kind of snarky side to him. To me they did a better job than the Houston crew of analyzing the match and the players. I did notice that the picture for Barcelona was kind of grainy but I think that's because it was from a Spanish feed. And even if neither crew was on par with the commentary skill of Mary and Cliff, I am just glad to get coverge of tennis that would otherwise not be shown in the US. If it wasn't for TTC I wouldn't have been able to see my lil' Rafa win two tournies in a row these past couple of weeks or see the awesome Federer/Gasquet match. I'm surprised that hubby hasn't complained yet about of all the tennis on the Tivo queue, but what can I say- he understands my tennis/sports nuttiness.

I really enjoy the two Brits and the American who cover the Master's tournaments though. I think they are insightful and really understand the game. Harry, Have you seen any Master's tournies yet?

And since I can't talk about men's tennis without wading a bit it the shallow pool- it was nice to see Nicolas Lapennti again at Houston. Hope his semi-final appearance is the beginning of a turnaround for him.



Yeah- I think it happened during the Aussie Open. Someone went into get Andy and he was just sitting there. The whole thing didn't go over very well.

Yep, I have to pay $5 a month and I ordered it last night when I couldn't sleep and saw the Houston final. It was good tennis I guess, but the commentary was so blah.

Gotta agree with Chesty in that the Barcelona commentary was better than the Houston one. It seemed like the Barcelona crew understood clay as a surface more. The Houston commentary was a bit more amatuer. There were also more replays from the Barcelona feed. My only quip about the Godo coverage was that we didn't see earlier rounds and Max Miyrni, Gaudio or Coria.

Also agree with you Chesty in the MC coverage. Love the annoucners.


And thank the lawd that I am younger than Rafeal Nadal so I can say this- capri pants and all, the boy's rear end shoud be bronzed as a keepsake.

Gosh- can't wait until the French Open, great races on both the women's and men's sides.

Those commentators are hysterical. Last year during one of the tournys they were talking about how Labadze was so much bigger and heavier that the ATP stats listed him to be. They went on and on, and finally one of the guys said that labadze had "child bearing hips"! Its still my favorite snarker comment of all time.

Offbeat news. Saw the footage from this on CNN at lunchtime. You guys have to see it. It's hilarious: buffalo on a tennis court in an upscale (so the announcers said) Baltimore neighborhood.

So funny- I saw the video and was hooting with laughter.

darn double post...sorry- didn't mean to.

This is from Sports Illustrated online. 23 years is a long time!

I'm so jealous of all of you with the Tennis Channel. Stupid Charter Cable. Refuses to get it; refuses to even acknowledge it exists. Here we are at the height of spring, and tennis is everywhere, but not on my television. URGH!

And why do we get golf EVERY weekend? Not only on the golf channel, but ESPN, FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS, USA. Tomorrow (Sunday, May 1) my cable guide has golf coverage on USA, ESPN, CBS, the Golf channel--even a local PBS station here is showing something called "Adventure Golf. "

All this while there are MAJOR tennis events going in several places.

Doesn't the technology exist for something like cable or satellite a la carte, where we can choose/pay for the programming we want, and trash the rest?

</end rant>

Woo. That feels better. Glad I got that out.

Ditto.

Hey Castallack, seems Couch Baron is a fellow David fan. This is from his most recent Veronica Mars recap (page 14):

That’s great! I’m a really big Nalbandain fan and like to see him get mentions. Speaking of Nalby- I was so happy that he won the Munich tournament yesterday. First tourney win since 2002 and a great way to come back after a couple of years that were really hampered by injury, illness, and death in his family. He looked really happy about the win too.

Look forward to seeing him play in the Rome Masters tomorrow.* I caught some of the Feli Lopez / Thomas Johansson match when I was home to walk the dog at lunch. I felt bad for Lopez. He was playing really, really poorly in the second set (some of his drop shots were atrocious) and the crowd started booing him. They were quite mean.



That would be fantastic.

* Edited to add that it looks like David won't be playing on Central Court tomorrow so TTC likely won't show the match or at least much of it. Darn!

Who wouldn't be a Nalbandian fan, with that big ass and never say die attitude?

But seriously, I too was thrilled with the big win and I hope it bodes well for an injury-free year.

I caught a bit of the Roddick-Costa match this morning on TTC and won't ruin it for those watching later but I will say that it's nice wake up to good, live tennis. Can't wait for the French.

/off topic:
Chicago Tribune reports today that Lleyton Hewitt's fiancee is 3 months pregnant. Both their reps confirm it. /ot

Did anyone see the finals of the Rome Masters on TTC today?

What a great, great match. One of the best matches of the year so far. Both Coria and Nadal played stellar claycourt tennis in the last set (which ended in a tiebreak). The kid is for real. I have become soooo impressed with him over the past few months.

Once again, loved the Master's commentary. Quiet during the point. Knowledgeable and kinda snarky sometimes between points. Just how I like it.

And I have to think that Bec and Hewitt's baby is going to resemble them strongly because I think they both look like one another.

Hallelujah! I have The Tennis Channel! Woo hoo! Praise be the cable gods!

I am scrolling through the 400+ digital cable channels I have at 10:15 on a Friday night and all of a sudden there it is at 277 on Comcast Detroit.

Yeah! It's an encore presentation and I just don't care. They are playing a Master's Tournament this is big tennis people!

See guys? All that whining I've done has paid off. So much for going into the office this weekend. That flew right out the window.

Oh.My.God.

It's the apocalypse. Juanita has TTC.

Yea Juanita on getting TTC!

On Tuesday at 8 pm eastern they are playing a repeat of the Rome final. If you can only catch part of it (since it was so long at 5-plus hours and there's some good stuff on other channels during prime time) I highly recommend the last set. What an awesome 5th set.

I'm so all alone. . . I guess I should be happy I have ESPN Classic so I can watch the French (what is up with that?).

I'll second LT's confusion re: ESPNClassic having the French. When I saw that in Tennis magazine, I was perplexed.

I am so geeked about watching Queen's (Stella Artois) on TTC!

And the official Wimbledon emails have started. I love this time of the year!

Neener neener neener. Just kidding. But now I have a complex about moving into a new community that doesn't have TTC.

Last night I was watching a TTC show called Paris Underground, a behind-the-scenes look at Roland Garros hosted by Murphy Jensen. His voice sounds exactly like his brother's.

They have a crystal ball over there at ESPN and know already that it's going to be a classic.

Castallack: Bwah! Good one!

On another note, have I mentioned that I now have TTC? /gloating

ESPN Classic! Does ESPN hate me? Why are they doing this to me? After the relatively good Aussie Open coverage, why this now? ESPN, grrrrh!

I don't remember exactly where I heard this but I think ESPN Classic will air live tennis at 5am ET and then ESPN2 will show continued coverage from that day's events.

Seems reasonable to me. At least I can watch live tennis before I go to work in the morning.

ETA: ESPN Schedule

crimsongrl is right that the ESPN Classic coverage is live. It's still WEIRD but it's live and live tennis is ALWAYS A GOOD THING, my friends.

What other live sports events could suck air time out of the primary ESPN outlets is beyond me but ... whatever works. I am sure we will have the same Cliff/PeeMac/Carillo/Fernandez team.

Anyone know what Courier is doing this year? He usually gets to the French in some capacity.

And when is The Tennis Channel going to give Todd Martin his own show? I'm just saying.

He is preparing [to meet and] marry me.

And I, too, am really looking forward to setting my TV morning alarm to live tennis next week and, not to get too hopeful but, I hope they show some lesser-known players during those early morning hours.

Anyone know what happened to Mal Washington? I thought he was excellent on ESPN's coverage.



According to this article, ESPN Classic will air live tennis at 5 a.m. for the first week only. The second week will probably be taped coverage.

http://www.sportsmediainc.com/tennisweek/i...5&bannerregion=

Mal Washington has always had selective ESPN assignments. He's usually at the Slams though cause they load up on analysts and announcers during that time.

You guys, I had a heart attack today cause The Tennis Channel wasn't showing up on my service. It was listed as a subscriber service and I about lost it. But luckily it was just a bad signal.

This just in:
Hewitt withdrew from the French. Some car-accident-related rib injury.
Also out is Taylor Dent.

Let the French Open countdown begin! Woo hoo!

ETA:Those bastards!

Boo! Hiss!


Once TTC has greater area coverage, I really hope they can gain rights to the Slams or at least share coverage. Wouldn't it be fun if they got to do the outer courts? Or show coverage live in the wee hours with ESPN taking over later?

A girl can dream.

I will try to find the article but I'm sure I read awhile ago that Mal Washington is not with ESPN anymore because they had a dispute about his contract.

Or maybe it was just for Davis Cup that they couldn't come to an agreement?

Oh, regarding The Future Mr. LT, Jim Courier, I saw him in a TTC-televised match. He is playing on the Tour of Champions. He made it to the final in (name of European city that escapes me) but lost to Muster.

If he is in Europe playing on the red clay, I am sure we will hear from him in some capacity during Roland Garros. If not ESPN, maybe whichever network has the final/weekend coverage.

I would move to a Comcast town if that happened. Dammit, Cablevision, get your act together! I'm the only one left here without TTC.

I just checked the French Open site and they are in the final round of the qualifiers. (Go James!) I'm curious to see who we'll see start off on Monday.

Nah, I'm still here, LT. And while I have Comcast, Chicago politics run rampant and for whatever reason are delaying its arrival here in any capacity.

But I'll still back the initiative to get outer courts and extended hours coverage for y'all.

Ain't I noble?

Now if I could just get Comcast to pick up that German channel that's going to replay the Laureus Awards ceremony - my next project!

Awww, I'm sorry, OopsSorry, I don't want to wish my no-TTC status on anyone.

The draw is up. And who do we have to beg to get this potential matchup?


The article on the draw has some interesting potential match ups marked. And yeah! Guga in the French! And no Hewitt or Dent (both pulled out because of injuries). With those two seeds out, the Mosquito is now seeded 32 and we all know his best chances are in the French so good for him.

Serena's out! Just wow!

http://www.sportsmediainc.net/tennisweek/i...5&bannerregion=

First Lleyton, then Taylor, now this.

About ESPN's second week coverage, let me be clear that it is not official. I was just reading between the lines of the tennisweek article when it said that the first week coverage (at 5 a.m.) would be live. It did not mention the second week not being live but in reality this is ESPN so it is possible.

The schedule of play is up for Monday. I am bummed that Andre is not on for Monday. My Tuesday is so swamped at work I probably won't get to see any of the tournament that day.

Can I just talk about the weirdness that is a returning semi-finalist, who is ranked 7th in the tournament, being relegated to play on Court 7 late in the first day of play? I realize that historically Tim Henman is not a clay courter but doesn't he deserve more respect than that?

And I was thinking this morning of Paradorn Srichaphan. He is unranked this year. And just a few years ago, he was playing so beautifully.

I am bummed about Serena being out since she does love the clay so much.

I was happy about Venus winning Istanbul this weekend and hope she can continue to play well this week in Paris. While looking at the Roland Garros website I saw this:



Though it's not a quote, Carillo's remark struck me as the kind of cattiness she reserves for Serena.

Also, according to the ESPN website it appears coverage during the second week starts at 6 and 8 am, so this may be live, unless ESPN decides to show an instant classic Sharapova match.

BWAH!

lechuga: You fit in very well on this board! Welcome!

Carillo is pretty pointed in her remarks about the Williams' sisters but I think, in her defense, she is pretty blunt about every player. It's the New Yorker in her. And I'm not sure she's wrong. I think for Venus it's a mental game: can I beat my sister? And if not, should I continue?

Pic of Steffi Graf, Marat Safin & his hair at a Roland Garros charity tournament.

I think Mary is dead on. Venus never seems as happy as she used to and I want her to find whatever makes her happiest--tennis or not.

And speaking of Sharapova: I'm damn happy to see the Andre/Steffi commercial over and over and over during coverage and I'm even okay with the Sharapova commercial until she starts that damn weird hip waggle at the end when she talks. What is that?

How wonderful was it this morning to wake up to Dick saying "Rafael Nadal." Oh, it was heaven.

The Sharapova commercial bugs. On many levels including this one: isn't that Andre's endorsement? Did he lose Canon? Isn't Image Everything?

Yay! Andre is up first thing tomorrow. I will set my alarm for 5 a.m. and hope that Justine makes quick work of her competitor. The only chance I have to see his match is for it to air before 8:30 a.m. I love Roland Garros! Heck, I love the Slams!

I even get to go home for lunch and watch an hour during the day!

Amen. Sheesh. At least Steffi and Andre use their personalities to sell the product, not their hips. And while I wasn't going to post it - lest you all get too exasperated by the Roger theme of my posts, let alone consider notifying the authorities! - it now seems very appropriate to ask if anyone read the NYTimes article on Roger's resistance to management and corporate connections. Here's the link
but it's a subscription site. So I'll see if I can copy it somehow to somewhere else.

Or I'll summarize for those who might find it interesting - though for the most part it's stuff we already know. What I didn't know is that the tennis management world is pretty tiffed by his self-management for a number of reasons - some that connect him driving the price down for other players in their endorsement deals to his own deal with Nike.

And there are cute quotes about him and Mirka and family....

I got up at 6 a.m. to watch Andre. Why oh why didn't I pay attention to who Justine was playing this morning? Obviously Conchita Martinez is a big time clay courter, I could've figured that one would go long.

Anyone going to watch the ESPN show "Top 5 Reasons Why You Can't Blame ... John McEnroe for his Outbursts"? It looks amusing. But it's airing at the same time as The Contender finale so ... I'll have to catch it on re-runs, which shouldn't be diffiicult to do.

I set the VCR for the rest of Andre's match but then I set it to record the wrong channel at 10 a.m. when the networks switch so ... it is probably all for naught since I likely won't get to see the last set or two.

She's supposed to be sexy because she's 18, blonde and foreign which somehow translates as "exotic". I don't know. Whatever.

In other news, I found this some time ago. All the articles and stuff are loaded there.