Yup, it's 2-dimensional commentary. As soon as they get a hook on a player they just will not let go of it. Another peeve of mine is the constant reminders that the Williams sisters have interests outside of tennis. What, shitty fashion? Gosh, Lindsay Davenport is married; I'm fairly certain she has absolutely no interests outside of tennis.

Awwwww, I like Dick Enberg. They could get rid of someone else. The upside to so many commentating teams is that they are doing coverage on more than one match. Cliff and Brad doing the Safin/Lopez match was real-time coverage, not afterthought when the match was shown. If there hadn't been a rain delay the only "voice time" they would have gotten would have been that last game they showed earlier.

I have to say--coverage good or bad, commentating okay or sucky--I'm liking the commitment by ESPN. I had to wake up for work at 2:15 am CST and it was nice to turn on some tennis. Now we can start working on them being better at it.

I also like Enberg. I'd rather they dump anyone else (except Drysdale, of course).

You know, part of the reason I'm enjoying the commentary more is that I don't have to hear anymore about Henin-Hardenne. All the incessant fawning over her is beyond irritating.

Me thinks that the fawning becomes "incessant" when they're fawning about someone one dislikes.

Example? Sharapova fawning. Bleh.

So why didn't they show the Roger/Kiefer match? Is NBC planning on showing it? From what it looks like, it seemed like a competitive match. The people gave a standing O at the end. Good stuff. And yet, I didn't see it. Are they going to broadcast it later? Help! I want to watch it.

I find the fawning over Sharapova and Henin-Hardenne incessant, but I don't particularly dislike either of them. Justine's a great player and all, but the people calling her the favorite coming into this tournament were clearly on crack. I love how one of the commentators laughed at the notion that she was the favorite. As far as the Russians go, there's not enough fawning over Kuznetsova (and yeah, it's probably because she's not cute). She's still a bit of a head case, but she might end up the best of them all.

Well, after two years, the real Venus Williams makes an appearance at a Slam.

They showed a little of the Federer/Kiefer match. I think NBC is going to show it.

I can't believe the promo people on NBC actually described Maria Sharapova as a beautiful Russian princess, whatever. And it looks to me like neither ESPN or NBC showed the Federer/Keifer match, assholes. It's all Roddick/Sharapova/Murray/ all the time.

Well, ESPN2 showed a little of Federer/Kiefer (the second-set tiebreak and the end of the fourth set).

Don't you understand? That's what you're supposed to believe. Just listen to the hype machine, they'll tell you what you're supposed to think. After being burned by Kournikova, the tennis hype masters must be glad they have an attractive player who also wins tournaments, so they're playing her up for all she's worth.

What bugs me about tennis coverage is what generally bugs me about all sports coverage and that is that the commentators have to turn every single point into some sort of metaphor for the human condition. I wish they'd just call the games and shut up with the metaphors.

And I am well aware that they serve strawberries with cream at Wimbledon. I don't need to be reminded after every break.

My favorite part of the coverage on NBC so far was Johnny Mac twisting himself into a pretzel to justify Roddick walking off the court Thrusday night...and then blaming the Italian reporter for being "emotional"!

So I've gotten my errands done for the day and I'm ready to sit down and watch the Murray/Nalbandian match BUT...nope I should have known that it would be the effin' Andy Roddick show. The constant Roddick love-in is driving me absolutely crazy. Why for the love of sweet jesus do we have see what seems to be another drubbing, when we could watch the tension-filled dramatics of the Murray/Nalbandian match live.

OK, I feel sufficiently scolded re: Enberg. It's not that I don't like him. Heck, I likeBrad Gilbert but only when he's coaching, I can't stand him in the booth. I am just surprised at how very many non-tennis pros ESPN has on staff now for the tennis coverage. I get the Enberg is a veteran tennis analyst or commentator.

NBC just said their coverage of Wimbledon continues tomorrow. What happened to no tennis on the middle Sunday? Somebody help me out here. Are they showing a taped match from earlier in the week or did Wimbledon change the schedule?

And I am so waiting for the match between Venus and Serena so that the ESPN producers/sound editors can mix in Snoop Dogg's signs "Have you ever flown to London? You can see Venus and Serena in the Wimbledon arena."

So I turn on my TV to watch some good tennis and all I get is...Andy Roddick. It's not even a close match and Andy's clearly going to win this snorefest. Blah. I hate his game. It's all power.

I would've rather seen the apparently tight Federer match.

re: Roddick
You guys, this shit isn't even LIVE! The score is already posted on the official Wimbledon site. Murray/Nalbandian is live at the moment.

My intense hatred for television sports programmers intensifies.

Who do I have to do to see mmmmmmmMax Mirnyi's match against Thomas Johansson? No, seriously. For good measure: mmmmmmMax is in the round of 16! Woo hoo!

I have just given up on the NBC coverage. I'm just listening to Wimbledon radio from my computer while riding my exercise bike and I'm able to hear the Murray/Nalbandian match and parts of the Coria/Melzer match. Why do the NBC people shoot themselves in the foot like this...no wonder people think tennis is boring when they show boring matches when they could be showing this exciting match live.

One thing about the radio annoucers versus the ESPN/NBC announcers is even if they are biased towards Murray- they at least comment on when Nalby does something right. Unlike ESPN/NBC - where they just talk about one player.

It will be a cold day in hell before I will ever see a Coria match on tv- which is a shame not only is he one of my favorites , but also because it sounds like his match today, to use a Britishism, is a "cracker."

Dear NBC, your Wimbledon coverage sucks. Instead of showing us LIVE matches, you show us matches long over that we all know the results of because we have ESPN and the internet.

Thank goodness for BBC radio online and the Wimbledon site, otherwise, I'd be going insane. Part of my love of Wimbledon is the watching the UK men try to win a championship for their long suffering country. Instead, I'm being denied that excitement in favor of a "Russian Princess" wearing 18K gold shoes. Whatever.

Exactly. This is why American audiences aren't familiar with foreign players who aren't blonde Russian women. They don't show us their matches. Instead of showing us live coverage of a wonderful match between two foreign players, we get recorded coverage of another Roddick servefest or Maria gruntfest.

Yes, Roddick and Sharapova are good players, but so are many others. This American wanted to see Federer/Keifer, Murray/Nalbandian, and a little bit of Gasquet. Instead I get two full hours of a recorded Roddick match, and an hour of a recorded Sharapova match.

Murray/Naldbandian are playing right now, and I have to watch IBM livescoring to know what's going on in the match!

There are incredible matches going on right now between Andy/Nalby and Coria/Melzer. Good dramatic matches.

Yet- NBC shows snoozefest matches that people already know the results of. It is like they are trying to kill the sport here.



If you can- go to the Wimbledon site and listen to Radio Wimbleon- it is free and live.

Even as a fan of Andy, I would've preferred to see the Nalbandian/Murray match, as it looks really really good and exciting. At least with ESPN2's coverage, they flip over a little. I mean, the last set was kind of interesting, but did they actually have to show the whole thing?

As for the Russian women, I do feel bad for Kuznetsova because she isn't attractive so she doesn't get the fawning -- but she hasn't really done well after winning the US Open. I also think that Dementieva is prettier than Sharapova, but she isn't as young or cute. And after hating Dementieva and her weak second serves at the US Open, I came around to liking her when I saw her (live) beat Mauresmo.

I actually think slug serve-power matches can be extremely interesting live. I adored Mark Philippousis when I started going to the US Open when I was in high school, and have always preferred watching the men's power game over some of the more finesse games. Because sometimes loooong defensive matches (especially men's best-of-fives) can be unbareable -- and moreso live than on TV.

I meant they should be fawning over her because of her game more so than her results. She has groundstrokes as good as Dementieva, but she also has a really good serve. Although I know close doesn't count, it bears repeating that she was oh-so-close to beating Henin at the French.

I know I shouldn't be surprised or anything, but they're showing this boring, taped match while 2 five-setters are going on live? NBC is beyond ridiculous!

I can't wait to see Dementieva v.s Myskina, its gonna be so great. Just imagine how much entertainment there will be, but you just know it won't get shown on tv live cos everyone wants to see Sharapova play.

After watching an Andy Roddick interview, I have to say he's so boring- there's no personality there. Federer on the other hand was pretty good- you can actually stay awake when he speaks.

Heres the thing, I like Andy, but I wanted to see that Murray/Nalby match. I sometimes really hate NBC/ESPN

Yet another quote from Wertheim:I really do agree. The world stands and pays notice when Wimbledon is being played.

Also saw that ESPN named the FedererExpress the third most dominant player in sports. (Lance Armstrong and Annika Sorenstam were one and two respectively.)

OK, my claim? I would have to look again at the footage to get a good look at her face to back up what I'm thinking but here goes: Deep down, I think Serena tanked that match because she didnt want to face Venus in any situation and definitely one where she knew she would lose. Yeah, yeah, she's injured-but even an injured Serena usually wins. I think she threw it-I knew one of the sisters wouldnt make it to the round where they had to face each other.

I agree NBC sucks. They think Sharapova brings SUCH high ratings they'd rather show a boring TAPED blowout than anything of substance or intrigue. Roddick I can deal with, but another session of Carillo and Ted Robinson fawning and drooling over Maria. Puke.

Wow, Serena loses! I wonder if accusations of throwing the match will come, seeing as she was to play Venus next?

Add me to the list of those angry at NBC's coverage. You know it's bad when you long ESPN's coverage. Also, Dick Enberg is great I had missed him after he left NBC. Glad to see that he decided to go to ESPN. He's gotta be one of the best and most repected play-by-play sports announcers ever. Chris Fowler, now that is someone they could really ditch. I don't remember seeing anyone else openly offending as many players as Chris seems to. He totally doesn't talk to the players as if they are real people. It's so annoying!

As much as Carillo and Co. trash Venus and Serena's games, attitudes, etc., Im happy she/they wont have the opportunity to trash them both at the same time in the same match in the 4th round. I'm looking forward to Pierce versus Venus in the quarters. I cant pick a winner there. If it was any surface but grass Id give the edge to Mary. Should I discount Pennetta and Craybas yet? Its also a toss-up who wins the Davenport-Clijsters match, but whoever wins should advance to the final.

No tennis. NBC has always used the middle Sunday for highlights from the first week but with so much ESPN2 coverage, it is just going to be useless. And add me to the growing numbers of NBC coverage haters--I noticed it after the French, and it has really been brought home today. I much prefered listening on Radio Wimbledon, especially since that was the only way I was going to find out mmmmmmmmmMax is in the next round. And Castallack! How happy are you that Nalbandian pulled it out! Goody for him. Wish I had seen it.

Okay, I'm watching Serena's match after hearing these exact same games on Radio Wimbledon. How funny is the bias of the commentators? Serena is in her mini-streak in the 2nd set and the ESPN2 guys are fawning while the Wimbledon folk were not so generous.

Here's the thing. The commentators know their respective networks are not showing better matches. Do they say stuff to their producers? Do they really think the audience wants to watch a boring match? My idea is that the US networks should go to the individual country's federations and find out who is a real up-and-comer. Do profiles on those players and show them to us, the viewing public (kind of like those incessant Olympic profiles). We are a wishy-washy nation. Give us a reason to like some guy from Spain and we will.

Watching NBC cover Wimbledon makes me long for the days when HBO covered ABP (already been played) matches with a bit more flair and commentary from Brits with vocabularies larger than 12 words. Yes, it makes you want to listen to tennis. How sad. I'll stick with ESPN because Enberg is never obnoxious and they show most of the matches live or reasonably live on the left coast.

The Pierce/Williams match is compelling in a train wreck sort of way. You know it will be a blow-out, you just don't know which way.
The Davenport-Clijsters match should be a good one and whoever wins will be my pick to win the tournament.

We need to see some Federer matches prior to the final and we know Nalbandian has a "funny" name, but the guy can play and is fun to watch. Please NBC!

Ah, LT we're simpatico again.

I think it is unfortunate that there are questions as to whether Serena tanked this match. That has followed Venus and Serena for so long. I'm so tired of it.

I just caught the last two games and the tiebreak in the S. Williams/Craybas match. Wow! Never would have seen that one coming but good for Craybas.

And please, someone out there, hire a hairdresser for Pam Shriver and a wardrobe consultant for Brad Gilbert. I'm just saying.

I don't think Serena tanked the match. She was simply outplayed, which doesn't surprise me because Serena and Venus and known for never knowing anything about their opponents games. And I will say that perhaps Serena's injuries did hurt her performance.


And on a totally shallow note, I really liked the glasses Venus had on during Serena's match.

Nothing is worse then my local news sportscasters covering Wimbledon action. It's downright painful because it's so obvious they don't follow tennis and they make such a big show out of trying to pronounce the names. A few nights ago when Justine lost to Danilidou was a nightmare. I can sort of understand them not being able to pronounce Danilidou right, and they pronounced it 3 different ways, but how hard is it to get Henin-Hardenne right?

To the first sentence: absolutely. To the second: I hope you are right. I really like those two.

I also agree that Pam needs a hairstylist and Brad needs new clothes. Interestingly, his commentating on the Nalbandian/Murray match is halfway decent when he goes into coach mode. He should just stay there and quit with the predictions.

I decided my dream commentating team would be Cliff and Dick. Just the two of them, old-school style.

PS: What did Nalbandian do in his past life to make everyone yell "OUT" at his in shots?

I honestly think that Craybas has a chance at beating Venus, so I'll refrain from making any Pierce/Williams predictions. I think Davenport will win it all this year, it will most likely be Davenport vs. Sharapova, and Davenport will demolish Sharapova. I also think she may win the US Open, at which point she will retire.

The Serena/Craybas match was seriously painful to watch. Why NBC couldn't switch over to the Murray/Nalbandian match, I have absolutely no clue. I mean Serena looked extremely ill during the whole thing, and I spent half the time thinking to myself that she should just retire from the match, go home and take a long nap. With the sickness plus all of her injuries, I'm surprised the match wasn't even more one-sided. I hope Venus wins her next match -- despite the publicity, the fawning and their often annoying tennis daddy, I've always really liked the sisters.

I like Kim Clijsters, but at this point, I just have to root for Lindsay. It would be nice to see her go out on top and win another slam before she retires.

I'm sure they talk about better tennis, but I could never listen to Radio Wimbledon or anything like that. Tennis is too difficult to follow on the radio -- it's a very visual sport.

Perhaps? Come on! Serena was broken the first five times she served! When has that ever happened? That's beyond unbelievable.

Honestly, I don't have faith in Davenport or Clijsters to win this title. Davenport's been playing well for about a year now, but she's choked away every shot at a Slam (up a set and a break against Sharapova here last year, Kuznetsova at the US Open, and Serena at the Australian). Clijsters is clearly allergic to winning a Slam. I'm indifferent to Clijsters (I liked her before she started giving Justine Slams), but I'd love to see Lindsay win it (if Venus doesn't). Sadly, I don't think Lindsay can close out the big ones anymore.

Maybe the Brits will treat Tim just a little better now. He doesn't give up 2-sets-to-love leads at Wimbledon.

I wish Sharapova would lose just to see how ESPN will react.

Ditto everything that DistantSun says above. Especially re: Davenport and Clijsters choking in clutch performances.

OMG! I'm just watching the Nalbandian/Murray match on TiVo and Brad Gilbert just said Nalbandian "self inflicted himself." Oh, the hilarity!

I agree but they both have to win on Monday.

NBC's coverage, as always, sucked all kinds of ass today. Let's show Andy throttle some player for 1 and a half hours. Now, with only 30 minutes left of coverage, why don't we show the second set of the Sharapova match after she has won the first set. I wonder who will win that second set?

ESPN2 can suck it too. Pam Shriver, stay away from the blue! Hire a stylist. And what the hell was up with airing Richard Williams' interview three times today?

Serena looked all kinds of shitty today. Go home and get some rest and then come back to the U.S. Open and kick ass! And bring back the catsuit!

P.S. When ESPN2 was showing an aerial shot of Court 2 (Serena's match), you could see thousands of fans walking away from Centre Court (and they did not look happy). Way to ruin the result of the Murray/Nalbandian match ESPN2!

[small voice] As much as I agree that NBC isn't really showing the matches that diehard fans perhaps would like to watch, I can't really fault them for their programming. Those who follow tennis closely are sick of watching Roddick, Sharapova, etc., especially when it is clear to all that they are going to win in routs. But I think NBC's target audience is the general viewing public - those who don't normally and would not normally watch a tennis match. There are no bigger names in American tennis right now than Andy Roddick (with his "movie star" looks), the Williams sisters (declining skills but still a popular draw), and the incomparable (at least for now, especially standing next to Kutsenova) Sharapova. If these names can't draw an audience, then nothing would. The casual observer will not keep watching a bunch of lesser names just because the tennis is good. But they will tune in to catch a glimpse of Sharapova's golden shoes, graceful movements, and ungraceful grunting. [/small voice]

That's the thing, the casual viewer likes these players because they are forced down our throats. If ESPN/NBC took the time to showcase other players with talent, people would see them and then look forward to watching their future matches.

The best thing would be to stop catering to "the casual" viewer and start catering to people who actually care about Tennis. One reason for not so hot ratings might be that win real tennis fans do tune in, they aren't seeing quality matches, and the players they want to see. I really wanted to see Federer/Keifer and Murry/Nalbandian today, when I realized they wouldn't be showed I turned off the TV and just put IBM live scoreboard on.

I would die a very happy woman if I never had to hear Andy Roddick and movie star looks mentioned in the same sentence ever again. There are tons of tennis players who look better than Roddick.

I can usually parse a sentence into something even a little understandable, but this one's about to send me into a drinking binge just to forget about it. Oh, and ETA, imagine my surprise at not seeing any Federer/Kiefer. They showed, what, two points? Out of a 4-set match where one set went to a tie-break? Who's deciding who should matter for broadcast, especially when these are two tricky finesse players whom many actual tennis playing audience members might find fun to watch? I mean, I can't dream of matching Roddick's power, but I can watch these two and pretend I can make those shots.

Word. I don't see how Roddick's hot. And I don't see the whole Nadal thing either. I mean, he has a great left bicep but apart from that, I don't think he's hot at all. He's cute. In a little brother (who could kick my ass) kind of way.

How can I get my hands on a copy of the Federer/Kiefer match? Or the Coria/Melzer (I heard that was an awesome match! And Coria did the opposite of choking! On grass! Woo hoo!)?

I didn't know Roger was also wearing the Sharapova shoes. He said it in an ESPN interview this morning. He not only wears them when he plays, he keeps wearing them when he's not playing. Chris Fowler was making fun of him for that.

LT: Thanks!

Wanna bet NBC airs the Federer/Kiefer match tomorrow? Bastards. I can't believe that match wasn't shown. Was that the first set Roger has dropped on grass?

I would love, love, love to see a copy of the Cora/Melzer match. But of course there is no coverage of it...heck even on the Wimbledon site. This is a 5'9" "clay courter" , who has always said that he wants to do well on all surfaces and fights to the upmost, and who is doing great and fighting hard this tournament. Could we see a smidge of coverage of this little guy- please?

I have seriously thought about seeing if I can get ESPN Desportes (aka begging the folks) , since some of my favorites- Coria, Gonzalez, Nalby- are from Latin America and most of the time you can't even get a snippet of them on tv. Today you could get Nalby since he was playing Murray- but if he wasn't- there is no way we would have seen any of them.)

The fact that Juan Carlos and Coria are doing so well here, and are part of the trend to end clay court specialism, is a great story, as is finally the good single results of MMMMMMax (who is widely regarded, along with Kim, as the nicest one on tour), as is the amazing form of Fernando Gonzalez. But none of these stories are being touched. None of them are Americans, but we are suckers here for good stories so make some good stories about these people.

I, too, am stunned that neither channel managed to squeeze out an eensy bit more of the Federer-Kiefer match. It seemed like an obvious choice.

You know what sucks up a lot of time on ESPN? All that fucking time with the studio analysts. We don't need it. The analysts can comment on other matches while doing their own matches if they want to. Have Fowler play MC and have one or two of the analysts come on at the end to set up the next day of play. But they piddle away a lot of time in the studio getting a second or third opinion. Who really cares that much, especially when we're about to see a match ... WITH AN ANALYST, or we've already seen a match ... WITH AN ANALYST? I'd rather be seeing more tennis.

I saw this great Gimelstob quote that I haven't seen mentioned here that you guys might enjoy. The press were ragging on Henman.

"Gimelstob said: "They were just blasting him to shreds saying: 'I don't know why he doesn't retire, he's never going to win Wimbledon.'

"I snapped and said to these guys: 'I want you to know, you are the biggest idiots I've ever come across in my life. If you have any idea how hard it is to try to be one of the best in the world at one thing. You guys have an incredible ambassador to England. He deals with the pressure you guys put on him in this country as well as anyone can handle. He's a great person, family man, he's had a great career. Maybe he won't ever win Wimbledon, but since when is the barometer of success or failure being the absolute greatest at something?' ""

Fallout from The Falklands War? Heck if I know. I'm just glad he won.

I just fell a little bit in love with Justin Gimelstob.

Heck I don't know. But I have to say that my hatred of Brad Gilbert dimmed a bit today because he seems to like and respect Nalbandian, which is good to me.


It is odd...ESPN usually likes the "hard luck" stories but they are completely ignoring David. Has had a ton of injuries and illnesses, has had to play tournaments when his parents where under threat of being kidnapped, and his father died suddenly and unexpectedly in December. Yet- he has always battled through- yet- ESPN could not care less.

At what time is NBC's coverage today? Does anyone know? I'm hoping against hope that they show some of the matches from yesterday that we barely saw. I know there's a "Today at Wimbledon" at night on ESPN2 (where they'll probably show Sharapova!)...

Noon EST


(Broken Record) I'm afraid I couldn't disagree more. [Soapbox] Networks: Teach us to learn to like a player, you are there, you see the story. Most finals are not going to have the players you are showcasing during the early rounds anyway and the ratings that really count for you are the semis and finals so build up the guys/gals who might actually make it.[/soapbox]

Hey, I keep forgetting: has anyone seen the commercial where the guy is sitting in his comfy office chair picks up a magazine and a drink and the set turns into a British Airways flight? The magazine is Tennis Magazine and I didn't see this commercial on ESPN2 or NBC. In fact, the only BA commercial I see during tennis is the cricket one--and speaking of which, did anyone catch Brad being an idiot about not understanding cricket and calling the field an outfield and the first commercial after that was the cricket one with the guy calling cricket baseball? Not an intentional edit, but really funny.