Except I'm not a Safin fan. There are only 8 tennis fans in the US, Juanita - can't you keep us all straight? (I'm kidding too - but LT is the Safin fan.)

Re: ESPN. Half of me really wants them to give up on tennis all together. Then TTC can get the rights and show everything properly. Of course, the other half knows that the sport will die that way.

But I can't complain, really, about ESPN this year. Lots of live coverage and now that the Americans are gone, we get some views of, you know, those other players with the funny names.

I’m a 17 year old female. Hear that ESPN? I am in your targeted MTV age demographic.

I do think that ESPN is much better this year in their actual coverage of the event. However, I think that one of ESPNs biggest faults (sorry for the pun) in how they carry the French Open is that they do not promote during other programs. I haven’t seen any ads for it the way that I have for the NBA finals and the Spelling Bee (great commercials for both). Like Chesty mentioned, they have given very little notice to the French Open in Sportscente (I had one of my brothers report back on that to me.)

ESPN really is not promoting it they way they should. It’s not like the cornfield baseball diamond in Field of Dreams. Meaning ESPN can’t just think that it they show it, viewers will come. They need to do a much, much better job of promoting why people should watch. They are not really doing anything at all to entice new viewers. Even their coverage on the main page on their website is rather lacking. Their headlines tend to be more about who lost as opposed to who won and who their next opponent will be and why that may be fun. Once you get into the general French Open section its better but their headlines on the main page aren’t really good at making people want to do that.

Nadal gave another interview to ESPN and he was once again, utterly adorable. He does seem to a good deal of thought when answering in English and has a very expressive face while doing it. I liked that Chris Fowler actually asked him a more unique question when he why Nadal played left handed when he is naturally a righty. Nadal was smiling quite a bit in today’s interview, he seemed to be very happy to be going to the semis. I just really enjoy the dichotomy between his on-court fierceness and how much shyer, smilier, and younger he seems when he is off the court. Sorry, I know that the folks at ESPN have been fawning enough over Nadal but I have to let out a little of my inner squee here.

Really disappointed that Lindsay didn’t get into the semis but Mary Pierce was just so darn good today. She is very giggly for a 30 year old!

Just like I can't help rooting for Tim Henman at The Championships, I think it's great that Mary Pierce is moving through the draw. Good for her.

I will say it is very fun to watch Justine Henin-Hardenne on clay. Mary Joe was saying that Justine loves the clay and is very natural on it. Sharapova doesn't have the movement, doesn't anticipate sliding the way the true clay courters do.

I thought Rafael/Roger was today. Bummer. Guess we are waiting until Friday.

Self-reporting demographics: 35 (as of Monday) female

I had a post yesterday re: doubles that was eaten by my server at work. I didn't say that.

Anyway, John McEnroe and Yannick Noah were playing Legends +45 against Ilia Nastase and J. Clerc yesterday on a show court. Would've loved to see that just for the fun and for Yannick Noah in FRANCE! Can you imagine that crowd?

My demographics: 31 year old Latina. But I don't live in the US per se, so I don't really count. Sigh.



NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I don't get the tennis channel where I live. In fact, I didn't even get the Wimbledon finals last year, because some network in Latin America had the rights to the transmission, but we don't get that network because we are not really in Latin America and only get US TV, but somehow NBC didn't care. Seriously, our political situation sucks. We're a colony, ergo the US doesn't know if we should be treated like any other US state, or as a Latin American country. I don't even get ESPN Latin America. I'm kind of screwed.

The coverage last night was classic. Someone at ESPN is working toward a video art degree or something. There were endless shots of intense faces on clay and dramatic cutaways. It was so very tense.

Me: 38-year old female (but I don't look a day over whatever age I feel like). And Happy Birthday JuanitaSmi.

David Ferrer looks like soap actor Roger Howarth. That distracted me the entire match--Todd Manning/Paul Ryan hitting an inside-out forehand? Weird and oddly satisfying.

And I finally figured out what is off about Nadal's face--he doesn't have that dent between his nose and upper lip.

It was nice not having PMac do the commentary for the Nadal/Ferrer match. Fawning by Cliffy and Mary but not to the extent of PMac.

And just when I was feeling so sorry for myself over my no-TTC status, Jimena proves I could have my tennis watching much worse.

I'm getting so nervous for my lovely Roger against Bam-Bam. Everyone seems to think (by saying it out loud or otherwise indicating it) that he's Nadal-Meat. And he looked so nervous at the end of that quarter. I'm getting concerned that we might have another jittery performance like at the Australian semi-final, when he really needed to be at his best to win it.

And as far as demographics go, we also need to address the dreaded "NPR factor". I'm totally in the worst demographic. Old, NPR to the hilt, liberal out the wazoo, white, white, white (can you believe it? I'm the last remaining WASP?)

I hope Federer can kick some Nadal (perfectly round in horribly tight pants) ass. But I'm not counting on it. I actually didn't think he got nervous at the end of his QF. I just thought he was thinking ahead, like the match was already won. Yeah, I know. Some people might call that shameless rationalization.

I have no idea who's going to win. I also don't know if any of this match will be shown live. Coverage is at 10am on NBC, right? And then at 1pm on ESPN?

I'm also really looking forward to the Petrova/JHH match. That's a good match up. Hopefully both will play well and we won't have a JHH/Kuznetsova-like match. That match was just horrendous.

That's what I thought too. He seemed to completely lose his train of thought and bammo, double faults.

Oh, my most favorite moment of yesterday? Mary and Lindsay smiling and chatting before they went on the court. Class personified. (I also liked Mary bicycling barefoot.)

I'm now a little concerned about the live/tape aspect of the semi (gee, thanks jimena). Will NBC mess this up? Why yes, yes they will.

They had coverage (at least for Wimbledon) YEARS ago, before HBO bought it. I'm sure it got way too expensive for them. It's true that the average tennis fan is older than the desired demographic, but they're also richer, which I think would make them desirable as well.

There is a way to watch the tennis without being annoyed by the Sharapova ad (not good) or the Agassi/Graf ad (good but too frequent). Get TiVo or a DVR and start watching coverage an hour or 90 minutes after it begins. You can FF the ads and be done in so much less time. I didn't start watching last night until after 10:30, and if it had ended at 11:30 as the schedule dictated, I wouldn't have seen a single ad. As it was, the coverage went to midnight, so I had to watch a few. It's also a great way to FF through Mary Joe's intros and 'insights'.

Demographic check in here- I'm a 27 year old white lady. Married to a 30 year old Mexican-American fellow. My husband and I are music nuts and go to plenty of club shows and things like SXSW and Coachella. Does that make us MTV-esque?

So mad that I forgot to Tivo today's matches. Both 5 setters. I did hear the Tommy/Davydenko match on the radio here at work. Wish Robredo could have pulled that one off. But congrats to Nikolay-he has had a really great year.




I wouldn't worry. A lot of people on other boards are saying that Federer will win it. Many more say it will be Feds who will come out with the win than Nadal. He is the betting favorite as well. Mary C also gave him a slight edge.

I feel so alone here in wanting Nadal to win the match on Friday. ;) I’ve just seen a lot of his matches in the past few months and it has been fun to watch his continuing improvement and always present intensity. He can just make some amazing shots. I like Federer too but I think he will win RG one day so this year I would just like Rafael to win it because it would kind of seem like graduation. What can I say, I just really like this kid and his cute, shy broken English interviews.



One thing that I liked about Mary and Dick’s commentary is that they rightly praised Ferrer for his awesome play during the first set. Pmac sometimes acts like there is only one player out there on court. Man, David was impressive. He also impressed me a lot at Rome. I did have to let out a little giggle at Ferrer’s little “hut, hut, hut” sounds he made while running. But the first set of that match had some fantastic clay court play and shots by both players which made it a lot of fun.

Victor Hanescue had a nice story, didn’t he? Sounds like he really did grow up in some very real poverty.

Sad for Davenport but yeah for Pierce! The ESPN crew all seemed to be very happy for Mary for coming back after years of continual injuries. I’ll be rooting for Mary and Justine tommorow.



Oh yes, that Justine/Svetlana match was a stinker. Which made me enjoy that Justine then put in such a great performace against Maria even more.

All I know is, they’d better know which network is showing what match on Friday in time for me to do my Tivo thang. I am a little worried about a match being shown on NBC because if there is a five-setter- which is likely in both matches. And we all know how NBC has the inability to show taped matches in their entirety. The only good thing about NBC is hopefully no more of those Agassi/Steffi and Maria ads.

Feels like some kind of Tennis-fans Anonymous meeting: Hi, everyone. I'm 35, female, and in a mixed-race marriage. Hi, OopsSorry!. Heh.

I was going to add to the thread love and come here to say that I love this thread almost as much as my TiVo! You have a good suggestion, iMissEthan, but I have to say I have a hard time not watching the coverage if it's on live and I'm at home. Though I do have to say missing all the ads/fluff is a great side effect to when I have to watch the taped coverage after work - it makes the experience so much saner.

There were two brief moments in today's coverage (Sorry you didn't get to see it, Chesty) where I paused for the fluff - one accidentally and it was horrible: had to listen to BG pimp his book and face the ill-fitting pants of Chris Fowler! Yikes. But then I also randomly paused for the treat that was Mary C's homage to growing up as a clay courter. Maybe it's just because I'm late in my pregnancy, but I loved that.

And finally - poor Roger and his meltdown. I'm excited about Friday, but nervous, of course.



Maybe he was just deciding what to wear for the party!

Edited to say Thanks, Chesty - as we simultaneously posted....

I do like Roger in suits.


Hope the best for you in your remaining weeks.

That Mary C. piece sounds like it was good. Double darn for not Tivoing today.

And I was wondering this last night, do you think that poor Zach Gilbert gets tired of his father always mentioning him on air? It was funny today on Radio Roland Garros. The two radio announcers were talking about how Brad Gilbert is always walking around Rolland Garros in shorts and a t-shirt and were wondering if ESPN made him wear a jacket on the air.

I'm another 30-something (33 & 11mo) white woman married to a (first-generation) Mexican-American man. Advertisers might like our age, but not our bank accounts. I'm the odd tennis fan who lives below the poverty level.


I'm just thrilled to see her back playing her game on any surface. I have a thing for those little European girls. (Hingis was my passion when she was at the top of her game, but Justine would have kicked her butt if their careers had coincided.)


Me either. I used to subscribe to HBO strictly for Wimbeldon. I almost wish they still had it--and the rest of the GS tournaments. I could do with fewer commercials and more [some] Navratilova commentary.


Lindsay has always had that kind of attitude. She can show a poor attitude on court, but off court she has always been a real sweetie. Even on court she's never been as bad as, say, Jennifer Capriati, who can get away with dropping the F-bomb on live TV and still be hailed as a "great comeback story". Ick. Mary has had to deal with a lot more crap in her life & career, but I've always liked her, too.



I'm pulling for our beautiful Swiss God, but I wouldn't bet on anything Mary C says. She might know her stuff, but I've despised her since she started playing the race card after the whole "Williams bump" episode at the US Open years ago. When she basically tried to blame an Eastern European woman for race problems in the U.S., I wanted to puke. Haven't liked her since (especially since I thought that episode was much more about the way the Williams family ran their mouths before they ever proved anything on the tour, and little to nothing to do with race). I love Cliff, but I wish ESPN would drop Mary and PMac.

The reason why, IMO, is that the non-tennis fan is not going to tune in to see non-Americans playing. I think that we will see more advertising during Wimbledon when there is a chance for more Americans to succeed.


They were discussing this over at the tennisweek boards. NBC's coverage is at 10 a.m. in all time zones. It's a three hour window of coverage and NBC gets first pick of whatever match they want. ESPN, however, does have the right to re-air whatever NBC shows so if NBC gets Nadal/Federer, ESPN may re-air it that afternoon or evening.



I think NBC has a long tradition of airing Wimbledon and with Sampras' long success there, it was a ratings winner. That's why the keep showing Wimbledon. As far as the French, I think it's a "we're already over there for Wimbledon so we might as well cover it" kind of thing for them.

I really liked Mary C's homage to clay courts, as well. I have enjoyed this tournament as much as any I have seen, I think, and it's because Roland Garros just brings something out in the players we don't see on hard courts. Oh but I'll change my opinion by the time Indian Wells rolls around. Hell, I'll change by the last week of June when I'll be saying all tennis should be played on grass...

I'm in the minority re: Pierce. I've always thought she looked like an angry French femme du certain âge and she just looks more like one now than ever. And I have never been a fan of her game, either. I think it's too monochrome. And when we can watch players like Henin-Hardenne and Federrer, it makes Pierce's game look even more bland to me.

I also decided that Nick Bollettieri should be banned from the tennis world because he turns out players who don't have beautiful games like McEnroe, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong, the Martinas, Henin-Hardenne, and Federer have. He turns out players who can barely hit a topspin lob and can only slice a backhand when they absolutely have to.

I hope tomorrow's matches live up to my expectations. Today's matches were close, but the later match in particular was not particularly scintillating until the last set and a half. It's going to be great to see Federer use spins and speeds to confuse Nadal and fascinating to see Nadal use his grit, youth, and pure shotmaking to overcome Federer's experience. I am hoping for five sets of brilliance, but I'll settle for 4 sets of occasional excellence.

I hereby nominate tisha for Queen of the Tennis Castle (Banning Rights (and Batteries) Included). I couldn't agree more. Boom, boom, boom, boom .... . . . . . z z z z z zz zzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz whuh? huh?!! are they still playing the same match? Same point!! Oh, crap. What else is on?

I think this tennis mentality has been so prevalent at the top of the women's game since Hingis left that it's made the women's game in particular a real bore. It's like: will someone construct a point, please?!! But, no. Just boom, grunt, boom, grunt, boom, grunt. You never see the angles - side to side or top to bottom. The viewers miss out on so many of the pleasures of the sport. And it makes the power of the game much less pleasurable, because when all you have is power, you can't *feel* it. It just becomes numbing. Like when Feds ends a long rally with one of those rifle forehands, it can make the crowd gasp at the sudden, shocking power out of nowhere. It's thrilling.

But they don't even try to get Americans interested in the non-Americans if they are not sexy ladies like Maria S. They should try to promote the players more. If the casual US sports fans are not even made aware of exciting non-US players before they play, then ESPN is really just shooting themselves in the foot. They will say- Americans won't watch non-Americans- see we have proof because ratings were down when person from country x plays person from country Y. Well the casual sports viewer likely won't watch if you don't even bother to promote matches featureing non-Americans players. Non-US players like Becker have been popular here in the past. There are a number of exciting non-US players out there now- ESPN, promote their matches darn it!

Tennis is a global sport and ESPN needs to realize that- there will be grand slams when there are no Americans in the semis. So maybe they can be a little more long-sighted and try to get US viewers to get out of their annoying cultural chauvinism (which has gotten worse over the years) and spread some buzz about some of these international players. Roger Federer should have gotten so much more kudos when they were doing the 2004 sports year in review show thingies. That made me sad.

I don't know, I guess since I have been a tennis fan literaly since as long as I can remember the concept of just liking US players is so foriegn to me (ohh..punny). My brother dressed as Borg for Halloween when I was 3 for creeps sakes.

I would dearly love it if the casual US fan could be less jingoistic. It bugs. And I have faith that it can happen, but maybe I am just being an idealistic fool.

Speaking of the crappy jingoism by the casual US sports fans, Frank Deford worte a great article about it that talks about a number of things including the upcoming Federer/Nadal match. It has some comments that may be viewed as hyperbolic about some of the athletes but I think he hits the nail on the head with how the US general public can be very narrow minded.

Seconded!

That was a great article, Chesty. Why can't Frank do some commentating? I love him on NPR - and I think he has such a great dry humor and his voice is really expressive.



I think there's hope. Don't have a timeline in mind, but more pieces like Mary C's getting out there might help. I think about this issue perhaps too much, but I truly believe that it must just be exposure and rearing. I don't know how I would have found tennis if my mom didn't celebrate the little coverage it got as an important connection to England. I don't really know how I would have found it otherwise.... But, then there's always the quirks of living: the two friends who most share my tennis interest speak to the uniqueness of its attraction - one is European (Swiss French) and the other is from Missouri. And my friend from Michigan in Las Vegas records TTC matches during the day to watch at night.

So I guess I'm trying to say we're out there - we may not fit the neat demographic, but we're here and watching (looking at YOU, ESPN).

So um, Henin-Hardenne and Petrova are wearing the exact same outfit, right? And why couldn't one of them have worn their hair differently or a different hat? This is soooooooooooo confusing.

And somebody send a fine Latino man my way so I can keep the demographic of this board consistent. /ot

No kidding! And they have the same type of build too. I keep looking for the bandage on JHH's leg.

Did you guys just see how they showed the Harris Financial commercial two times in one commercial break (with the Maria Sharapova commerical sandwiched in between).

Got to see Mary Carillo's piece about her wishes for her kids to be clay courters on last night's Today at the French Open. Very nice.

And yesterday's match between Canas and Puerta is the perfect example of why not promoting other players only hurts the broadcasters: As Cliff and Mary said, PMac told them before the start of the tournament that the buzz was Puerta going at least to the quarters, and probably the semis. If ESPN had bothered to show a few of his earlier-round games (I'm not asking for matches) maybe people would have been interested in seeing how a real clay-court specialist plays. (Of course, I do not love that Puerta only plays on clay, but he was a real joy to watch--esp. that 5th set--yesterday.)

And my favorite moment of yesterday's coverage? Canas and Puerta sharing a laugh at the net after a great point/missed drop shot.

I, too, liked Mary C.'s clay moment--it was a little melodramatic and quite a bit sappy, but I enjoyed the expressions on all the players's faces.

I also enjoyed the "Uncle Tony put the kibosh on (Nadal) playing golf." And Mary Pierce's fun little interview with Pam.

Mary Carillo has kids? How old are they? I wonder if she reads them bedtime stories about the horsies.

silentbob: I think Mary Carillo's kids are teenagers now. But I also think that both Pam Shriver and Mary Joe Fernandez had twins in the last year. re: the horsies: Hee.

Hey gang, maybe we should start a TWoP letter-writing campaign to Mike Fraizier at Genworth Financial thanking them for underwriting ESPN's coverage. Couldn't hurt and then they'd know we've been paying attention. Plus I could probably pull together a nice Excel chart of the demographics of this board to include. Just kidding.
I heard that too and thought the same thing. And we give the clay courters hell for ignoring the grass but ... if you can make a career specializing in something you love, I gotta give them props. And before this year, I'm not sure I have ever seen Puerta play and I know his name well enough from reading the stats and ATP site. I'm so OCD. /TMI

And Puerta has a really interesting story. Being banned from tennis for 9 months for taking asthma meds, being in a freak elevator accident.

I wonder where Puerta fits in the Argie schism that has Gaudio/Canas on one side and Coria/Nalbandian on the other. Maybe he's friends with everyone.

Dick Enberg (re: Mary Pierce): "Almost more than we needed to know."
Me: BWAH!

I like the letter idea, Juanita.

Schedule's up for tomorrow, guys - and we've got Davydenko-Puerta first. Followed by Rafa-Roger.

My excitement is getting tempered by the slowly dawning realization that NBC for sure will find a way to mess this up....

That Enberg moment was priceless - followed by the rather odd comment/joke from Pam about Mary therefore not being really French, right?

I am supposed to travel tomorrow (a 2-hour drive) and was trying to delay to see Federer/Nadal. I haven't bothered to look at the network schedule but I am slowly realizing that NBC is going to have the men's semis tomorrow/Friday. Should I slit my wrists now or wait until they show taped coverage late in the third set? Just checking.

And I like Rafael's long hair as much as I love Roger with short hair. I think Roger was getting too old to wear the long hair. Speaking as someone who just had a foot of hair cut off my head, I think I am knowledgeable about this.

I thought the whole exchange between Shriver, Carillo and Enberg was CLASSIC. But I love Carillo's humor.

Shriver: (laundry list of Pierce's injuries ...) She has a cut on her finger from shaving.
Carillo: She shaves her fingers?
Shriver: No! It's from shaving her arms, which just goes to show she's not really French.
Enberg: That was almost more than we needed to know.

She is very funny - and I forgot that she set the whole thing up.

Don't slit anything, Juanita - I've got a Latino man on his way over to you - long hair or no? There are lots of both here in Chicago - let alone in my husband's family.

How about Pammy taking the time abuse to the refs? And she said they had no idea about Pierce??

OMG: Stop the presses! They are going to show a live doubles match: Bryan/Bryan vs. Nestor/Knowles. Hot damn!

Majority of journalists tip Federer

John Roberts of The Independent echos my sentiments when he says



So if you are not on the east coast- which I am not, are the semifinals going to overlap between NBC/ESPN2? If so ....argh. I don't know what I'll do in regards to Tivoing it.



Double argh! I didn't Tivo the matches today because I figured that the ladies semis would be one-sided and since JHH proved my prediction correct before I went to work I decided to Tivo the spelling bee at my husband's request instead.

But I'm missing actual doubles on actual tv? Darn!

Since Max and Jonas made the final I'm hoping to catch a little glimpse of then since they sometimes do a little look in to the doubles finals.

Hey! I want in on this action as well (and I'll be driving through Chicago in just a couple of weeks. . . )


And this is why I've been TiVoing every day just in case--although I'm so damn tired after watching 6 hours of coverage when I'm not getting home until 8:30. Speaking of which, this morning was the first morning in almost two weeks that I didn't wake up to tennis. And that? Made me very sad.

Well, my head thinks it's a toss up, but my heart is hoping against hope that Roger comes out on top. As if you guys didn't know that...

Since I didn't get a chance to watch the matches, what the heck happened to Petrova? I thought she would give JHH a tougher match!

Since it hasn't been said in a while, I feel we are due:
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMax Mirnyi.

The first mens semi match – Puerta/Davydenko - will start at 7:00 a.m eastern.

So I’m thinking that NBC is showing a match at 10:00 a.m all time zones that will be Puerta/Davydenko on tape.

So the Federer/Nadal match up will likely be shown on ESPN2 at 1:00 p.m. eastern which will screw up the chance to Tivo both matches for all of us who are not in the eastern time zone. Poor west coasters will have three hours of overlap.

This sucks! I may have to start Tivoing the first semi, get a couple hours on it, and go home to walk the dog earlier than normal so I can switch the Tivo to ESPN.

Is it sad that I am spending way more energy on thinking the best way to get both matches on Tivo than I am thinking about my actual job…while I sitting here right now at work?

No, Chesty, this is actually normal for this board.

OK, what happened? Did Knowles retire due to injury? I'm so confused.

I didn't see Mary C's piece, but I'm afraid that it is very rare for an American sports "reporter" (and I use that word very loosely) to be any less jingoistic than the American tennis "fan" (equally loose in usage). This is especially true of the general sports reporter. Take a listen and look at the way the PTI boys cover tennis--when they mention the sport at all (which usually only occurs because a viewer is complaining about the lack of tennis coverage on their show). They continually bash it: who cares about tennis if an American isn't playing, would you know Lleyton Hewitt if he walked into the room (when he was #1--and, yes, I would), the women are more interesting (because of sex appeal, of course), etc. This isn't an aberration, I'm afraid; it is a symptom of a deeper problem in American culture, ie, that the U.S. is the pinnacle of cultural and moral development throughout history, so it is useless to waste time finding out about other, lesser cultures. A sport like tennis, that is by its very nature an international sport that can be and often is dominated by Europeans, is never going to get the kind of attention that even NASCAR (a sport? really?) gets. Now, golf is also international, but is almost always dominated by Americans. Because of this it gets coverage despite the fact that, like car racing, I don't even consider it a sport, let alone a compelling sport.
I must also give thanks to my own mother on the tennis exposure front. While she didn't see it as a connection to anything else, she constantly had the big tournaments on our television. Of course, this was in the day of exciting bad boys like Johnny Mac and Connors, so tennis was considered compelling television.


How I miss Little Martina. The beautiful, thoughtful play, the ever-present smile. The first time I saw her she was 14, playing Graf in the Chase Championship finals--which were 5-setters at the time--she was cramping up in the 4th & 5th, but kept that lovely smile, just thrilled to be where she was. She won my heart that day and has kept it to this very day, even through the dumb statements about Mauresmo's sexuality and the meltdown at the French Open (which would have been the fault of the Evil French Fans if she'd been American, exactly like Serena's problems there were portrayed years later). On the men's side, Feds makes me feel like no one since Patrick Rafter. No, I'm not just talking about being absolutely gorgeous. Rafter was such a breath of fresh air, even if he was just a throwback to an earlier day. He thought about the point; he didn't just try to bash his way through it. I hate that mentality, whether on the men's tour or the women's tour.


Head out towards the Southwest. We've got plenty of 'em here in Arizona. All very pretty, too.

Hey, everyone's welcome! Then they'd need to do a sociological study on us and the connections between our demographic and the tennis fanaticism.

Until Clijsters came along, I hadn't felt strongly about anyone on the women's side since Steffi. And I was a CRAZY fan of hers - in fact, I had no interest that I can recall in the men's circuit at that time. I loved the completeness of her game - as well as her hard work ethic, and the amazing intensity she brought to the game.

As for today, I'm so excited about getting to see some of the doubles when I get home. Was Martina the First today?

Hey, chomskyite - who are the PTI boys?

My guess, and I could be so wrong, is that NBC will try for the Federer/Nadal match (or as close as they can get depending on when the 1st semi is over) and ESPN2 will show Puerta/Davydenko on tape. Even though NBC's coverage sucked last weekend I think they have top priority for airing matches (btw: did anyone catch John McEnroe and what'shisface on Sunday talking about wondering when their plane home that night was? I do not want to know that the commentators were not sticking around).

eta: according to the ATP site, I am correct in the NBC-Federer/Nadal, ESPN2-Puerta/Davydenko. Of course, they could be wrong as well.

eta pt. 2:

I second that.

Here's some new info about the tv showings from tennis week



So excited for tomorrow- really hope they both end up being a great, high quality matches.

So cute!

OopsSorry: The PTI boys are the commentators on Pardon the Interruption, an ESPN daily digest show. They are not known for straying far from the holy grail of American sports: football, basketball and baseball. Maybe golf as a stretch but rarely tennis. It was on in the gym the other day and I saw they were talking about all the Americans out of the French instead of the story of the week, which is Nadal/Federer.

Chesty: Thanks for posting the picture. Since we're on the subject, did you guys see the ESPN coverage of this photo op? Chris Fowler was comparing it to boxing's weigh-in. But they asked Federer in an interview what he talked to Nadal about and Federer was his usual gracious delightful self.

And also? The cover of this month's Tennis? With Roger in Wimbledon white? Oh man, I'm an immediate convert to the sex appeal. Also, finally read Wertheim's column re: doubles coverage on TV (or lack thereof).

I was giddy with delight when I saw that they were going to interview Roger. I can be such a silly fan girl when it comes to him. He's just so adorable! Very articulate and accommodating, and incredibly gracious.

Now guys, if you were playing Mary Pierce and she's taking a lot of time between points (I love Mary, but she's just too freaking much some times) would you consider saying something to the chair umpire? Would you consider doing that "gamesmanship"? Because Chris Fowler and Pam Shriver were basically saying it's gamesmanship, while bringing back Serena-gate from a couple of years ago. Brad Gilbert said that it's acceptable.

I agreed with Brad. There are no words.

Gasp...I think I agree with Brad as well. Hasn't Mary always taken a lot of time between points?

I think for some players it is better for themselves it they take a lot of time between points, where as for others they like to go zip from one point to another. Different players have different ways they need to prepare, just like pitchers in baseball.

If Mary didn't normally do it- you could call gamemanship to throw her opponents off. But she has always done it so I think that it is done for herself and not to rattle her opponents.

And I can't beleive I am going to say this- but sometimes- I don't mind Brad. Yes, he's awkward and can say some stupid things but he seems to really, really love the sport and care about it. Yes, he is a bafoon at times but at least he is a passionate bafoon.

And I have to say that I also like how jazzed and excited Chris Fowler gets about things (again- even though he can say some doofy things once in a while). Since he does stuff for sports that are more popular in the US, I really like how much he seems to dig his Grand Slam gigs.

Who would you say is the most universaly liked/respected US tv tennis announcer for by tennis fans. Would it be Cliffy? Maybe followed by Mary? Well- those are my top two (even though Mary got on my nerves a bit when she kept calling David Nalbandian "the grouchy gaucho" year or so ago.)

Oh, no, no no, Chesty. Chris Fowler said that going to the umpire and complaining about how long the other player is taking between points would be gamesmanship on JHH's part. I just don't think that way.

And of course, who stirred the pot? Carlos Rodríguez, JHH's often inappropriate coach! Can't he just shut up some times? He's a bit too vocal for my liking and gets JHH in more trouble with some people that have not (and will not) forget the "incident" from 2003 (cough Pam Shriver cough).

That being said, I don't think that it's gamesmanship from Mary's part either. She's just neurotic with her ticks and rituals. But I mean, taking 40 seconds to serve when you're thoroughly dominating your opponent and are not tired at all, and it's not a tension-filled point in the match, and the crowd is not going crazy? Well, as I said, Mary can be too much sometimes.

Oops- I totally misunderstood your original post.

I thought you were asking if what Mary was doing was gamemanship.

Thank you husband unit for making me Tivo the spelling bee instead of tennis. (Could a geekier statement frankly ever be made by Texas standards?)

Well now that you are talking about that, maybe they will show a repeat of it during the French Open highlights tonight.

I hope they replay it.

Have any of Massu's oppenents ever complained about how much time he takes between points? Because Nico takes Pierce time between points on the men's side.

Her opponent shouldn't have to go to the chair to complain - there are rules about how long the player can take between points and if Pierce continually breaks them then she should be warned by the umpire regardless. She takes so long that she must be at least flirting with the limit on a regular basis. One of the commentators on the UK coverage today mentioned that if her opponent had been Steffi Graf then there would have been a hell of a lot of complaining going on, because Graf used to play absurdly quickly at times.

Pierce annoys the hell out of me but Likhovtseva made you wonder how on Earth she made the semis with the way she played today. Several of the Russians - I have trouble telling many of them apart, like (I think it's fair to say) a large proportion of the audience - seem to have mental problems when they reach the latter stages of major tournaments.

Does anyone else remember the adorable Natasha Zvereva taking the piss out of Pierce back in the day by mimicking the way she prances around the court like an overly-made up preening peacock?

I remember reading an interview with Pierce after she won the French. She talked about how she always takes long between points and she's trying to change that, but having a lot of trouble because it was too much of a pattern. I think she said she does it more when she's nervous.

Apparently, in the mid '90s, someone (maybe Sabatini?) complained to the umpire about it and Pierce was confused because she didn't realize how long she was taking. After the match, Pierce watched a tape of herself with her coach to see what she was doing between points. Pierce was horrified about how long she was taking and how fidgety she was. I wonder if she's still working to change it, or whether she's just realized she'll never be able to stop it when shes nervous and has given up?

I think (IIRC) that there are times when they've shown Nico Massu on TV that the announcers have mentioned something about him taking a long time amd how the umpire should intervene, or the player should say something. But I'm not completely sure.

I know the announcers don't usually advocate calling time violations when the match is long and the players are getting tired.

About Pierce: I think she's way beyond only doing it when she gets nervous. Maybe it used to be that way before, but it now seems par for the course.

Well, after all my convoluted efforts to catch as much tennis as possible (driving to Indiana for Eastern Time Zone coverage!), the website is now reporting an apparent rain delay! Will this force NBC into showing the Davydenko-Puerta match?

Will they still maintain the later coverage plan on ESPN?

As for Pierce, I had to FF through the between points yesterday (though it was hard not to just skip the whole match - I used to really like Likhotseva) because it was driving ME crazy. I support JHH with whatever she feels she needs to do - and don't think it would be anything other than trying to stick to what everyone else automatically conforms to.

My original concern was the weird kind of interference of the ESPN folks - it's one thing to report on things and ask about them, adn another to try to actively change the course of the match. I hope whatever comes from it is authentic to both players and the tennis they hope to play in this crucial match in (both) their careers.

Interesting that when they interviewed JH-H yesterday, she said that she had a lot of respect for Mary Pierce and wasn't going to be complaining about her time between points. She said something along the lines of "That's her style."

I tend to agree with the other posters that the onus is on the chair umpire to regulate it. But I do realize that if it was a match that Andre was playing, he would totally be calling the player on that shit. The worst was a few years ago having to watch Greg Rusedski adjust his socks between every single point (maybe against Pete?). I mean, I have OCD but c'mon! I'm not on international television people! There are superstitions and there are ticks and sometimes, they are annoying. (Plus GR annoys anyway.)

Big surprise here, I totally agree with OopsSorry:Somtimes I think the game strategy is better off between the player and the coach and not broadcast to the world.

Well, if we're in a rain delay, I guess there's no reason for me not to get on the road. *sigh*