I meant that he was surprised that a tennis commentator would ask a real question--and not just do the Patrick fawnfest--not that Mal wouldn't recognize the lapse.


They didn't? That is shocking. I'm crossing every finger for Max tonight.

Sampras's bete noir was Wayne Ferreira. Always in Sampras's half of the draw and always the only player with a winning record against him. You never know which player is going to have your number, but I think it's funny that it's always someone no one would expect. Sampras, until the back injury, could almost beat Agassi with his eyes closed, but Wayne Ferreira would show up and spank him.

ETA - Sampras ended his career with a 7-6 advantage over Ferreira.

You too?

Oh Max! I think my heart is still racing. . . and is it so wrong where my brain went when Cliff and Mal starting talking about his super-long wing span?

As for Andy. . . why does no one (in the media) rag on him for the 7-year old temper tantrums that he throws when he is losing? Knocking over the microphone wasn't a superstition, Mal, it was just bad manners.

btw: For those (like me) wondering how Jim Courier is healing, he is playing in the Masters Tour, and won yesterday. I must admit, I'm thinking of doing my "crazy tennis vacation" to the London championships. I've never been to The Royal Albert Hall.

Thank you. I actually was a Roddick fan until this last Wimbledon when he became the pissiest little bitch in the UK against Ancic. First he whines because Ancic wasn't "playing to the server's tempo," but then pulled the exact same maneuver later in the match when he was leading. But the worst WORST was when he just marched off the court before the umpire called the match due to rain. That had to merit an "unsportmanlike conduct" warning but nope. The little prince didn't want to play, so he called it himself. Then he condescended to Ancic after he won.

He's become quite the sore loser and ungracious winner.

Well to be fair here, Ancic really was dragging his feet and you ARE supposed to play at the pace of the server. As a league player myself, I get annoyed when I am ready to serve and have to wait for the receiver.

Honestly I can see people's frustrations with the commentators lavishing so much attention on Andy. BUT that is not Andy's fault. I find him extremely gracious in wins and losses, always for the most part offering praise for his opponents. Plus he seems genuinely down to earth and has a broad appeal.

Like him or not, there's no denying that he has raised the profile of tennis in the general public by bringing more attention to it. And not in the Anna K way of "I'm hot but can't really back it up with results". He's the #2 player in the world people. The boy can play. I think he's good for the game.

But Patrick McEnroe needs to be mandated to take a cold shower before and after each of his matches. Freak Boy.

Not last night. Not during that Ancic match that vallegirl mentioned (he was right that you play to the server, but you don't complain about it and then do the same thing yourself). And he sure as hell wasn't being an adult during his temper tantrums during last year's US Open semi-final against Nalbandian. I sat there, open-mouthed at his absolute meltdown. I do not know how much made it onto tv but it was awful.

The thing for me is, okay, so he is still a young guy. I'm now just too old to like him through the fits and no other player has gotten so much slack for the attitude. John McEnroe, Connors, Agassi, even Courier (who had plenty of pissy fits) all got called on the carpet for their attitude and the desperation of the current commentators to love Andy (for being American) through thick and thin is too much. I would like him more if they did comment more on it. Perfect example from last night: after pitching fit and throwing racket and knocking over microphone and making faces (who was that at anyway? Max? The chair ump? A line judge?) while losing he becomes peaches and cream when he starts to win and Cliff Drysdale could not say "he has heart" enough times (I counted four). ENOUGH! It was a good come-from-behind win (although I wasn't happy about it) but he isn't an even-tempered angel and no commentator is going to convince me that he is--and there is no reason that he needs to be.

I do agree that more people know tennis in America because of him--just like the stellar crop of Agassi, Sampras, Courier, Chang, Wheaton, etc did in the late 80s, early 90s--and hoorah for that but not only am I not a fan of his, I'm not a fan of his type of tennis. I love Agassi for the fact that he can see the ball bigger and slower than anyone else and sets up stunning shots. Love Max's huge serve followed by a run for the net. Taking the boring part of those two games and you get: Huge serve, stay at the baseline. Boring.

I agree. But what I am saying is that by and large, in comparison to some other top players (yeah Serena I'm looking at you) Andy usually offers praise to his opponents. That's all.

Does he get too much attention? Sure. But he was the #1 player in the world and is currently #2 so is it ENTIRELY unwarranted. No. That's what happens when you're #1 and #2. During the eighties all you heard, and rightfully so, was Chris and Martina. Chris and Martina. Why? They were dominant. And very few people ever called Ms. Navratilova on the carpet for her outbursts either (and I love me some Martina). Also, Lendl, McEnroe and Connors. Ditto on the domiance. In the 90's?? Pete and Andre. Pete and Andre. With some exceptions (Courier being one) they were predominantly discussed.

Now it is, Andy and Roger. They love Roger too. If I hear one more commentator say he is the perfect tennis player I think I'll vomit. I think some of the frustration has to do with the hyperbole of the commentators. Is Roger Federer the best in the game today? No question. Am I ready to call him the best ever? Not by a long shot. But they are heaping praise on him and his game like he is the second coming of Borg.

Is Andy the second most dominant player in today's game. Yup. No question. Plus he's young, good looking, charismatic and does a lot for the game outside of tennis. So he's going to get attention. And lots of it. That is just the way it goes.

For these people, Tennis is not just a sport. It is a business. Look at hockey. Their ratings are dismal. Tennis was in a huge slump. Enter Anna and Andy. Anna brings in the men, Andy the women and Gay men. The difference? Once you get past it, Andy can play and people start to get interested in tennis again.

So Roddick is seen as somewhat of a mealticket for the networks. If he didn't draw ratings, how much do you think they would discuss him?

Yup. And it is said in such a panicked way that I know the networks are mandating it.

His "praise" always sounds so calculated, though. Like "now I have to be 'gracious' even though for the preceding couple of hours I was acting like a grandstanding, pissyfitting asshole."

He treats his opponents quite differently. Those he respects (Federer, Agassi) he treats with fealty. Those he does not (everyone else) he treats with disdain.

He was heaped with praise before he earned it, and once he won the US Open, he started believing his hype. He's not the galloping thoroughbred he was last year. And his age is immaterial. He may be young, but he's barely a year younger than Federer.

Methinks he can't win. If he offers praise he obviously doesn't mean it. If he doesn't offer it, he's arrogant.

Oh well. I'm not his agent nor his PR man, so I don't get paid to defend him. I just have been reading page after page after page of almost hatred for the man and not understanding why.

He can win and he can even praise his opponents, but if he's just spent the better part of a match mocking his opponent (Ancic) and then turns around after winning the match and praises him it comes off as condescending. Plus he talked about what a great "young" talent Ancic is. He's less than 2 years older than Ancic, so pulling the "wise old veteran" act sounds demeaning. Let the old guys call Ancic "young".

I admitted to liking Roddick up until this last Wimbledon. His behavior there, and especially toward Ancic, was ugly. That's from where my disdain for Roddick stems. I noticed a tangible change in his whole persona since his winning the US Open last year, and he's done nothing to make me think that behavior v. Ancic was isolated. He pouted after the Wimbledon final, he stormed off the court before the umpire could even call the rain delay, he pouted in Toronto and overreacted to something Federer said while accepting the trophy, and he kept kicking over a very expensive mic while he was behind yesterday.

He may be good for the game, but I don't like his sense of entitlement.

well I saw the antire Ancic match in question and have to say I didn't see anything resembling mocking or disparaging his opponent during the match. He may have been upset about Ancic's antics (making him wait to serve, etc) and said something to the umpire but that is hardly "spending the better part of a match mocking an opponent".

If anything, Ancic with his repeated emphatic gestures was the one disparaging Roddick. But whatever. To each their own I guess.

Ancic was gesturing to himself, not Roddick. It was like watching Ivanisevic. Roddick, conversely, alternated between smirking and chronic bitchface. And the whinging about Ancic getting the towel on Roddick's serve, when he does it himself and constantly, and the huffy way he left the court before the umpire called the match was very demeaning toward Ancic and the chair umpire, because it basically said "Fuck y'all, I'm the star, it's misting, and I'm not playing anymore."

Plus, against Kiefer, he used the getting the towel ploy as a way to derail Kiefer's rhythm. Both men were on the line and Roddick was ready to receive and just as Kiefer was setting up his serve, he bounced back and got a towel from the ballboy. That's not exactly playing to Keifer's pace. He also did it to Federer in Toronto.

And this would be a moot point if he didn't whine like the most spoiled boy in the land when someone deigned to do it to him.

Then, of course, there was the huff he got himself into when Ljubicic complained that he didn't show the new balls.

It's a pattern of entitled behavior where he is not beholden to adhere to any rules or traditions, his opponent must maintain the strictest adherence, and if Prince Andy falters he doesn't appreciate being called on it.

In the US yes, but tennis is already immensely popular in the rest of the world, without Roddick's antics. I actually thought he was an okay guy but yeah he did kind of change after the USO win and the number 1 ranking at the end of last year.

Me personally I think he is a good player. But I think that what seperates him from Federer in particular is that for the most part, Federer has the smarts and the game to change tactics if something isn't working.

Andy on the other hand just has a really powerful serve. I will admit that the rest of his game is alright but in a couple of years those young power hitters are going to catch up with him. Andy's trick is that he hits the hard and fast. There is somebody out there who will no doubt be able to hit it harder and faster.

To simplify I think that on any given day, the chances of Roddick getting beat are greater than the chances of Federer getting beat. Of course Federer isn't perfect, as Tuesday showed. The man does have an all around game and he isn't an ass, so that is a huge plus.

I think Safin, when his head is in the right place is a better player than Roddick, probably Nalbandian too.

And I hate that he dumped Mandy Moore for some young washed out model. Girlfriend looks kind of rough.

It's nothing new for the US media to ignore an American player's poor behavior. That's been going on forever. Look at players like McEnroe, Connors and Sampras who displayed varying levels of rudeness but rarely got criticized for it. Oddly though, Agassi, who never displayed behavior as bad as McEnroe or Connors was frequently ripped in the US media. For those who may question my inclusion of Sampras on that list....well, I have it on very good authority that Sampras was well-known within tennis circles for treating tournament officials and even ballkids like dirt, but the US media continued to portray him as a class act, 'Gentleman Pete'.

In discussing examples of Roddick's poor behavior and the media's ignoring of it, let's not forget last year's US Open. Remember all the rain delays they had and how it messed up the scheduling? Remember how Guillermo Coria had a match that had been delayed multiple times and it was getting late at night? Then it stopped raining and they got the court dried enough to play but, instead of restarting Coria's match, tournament officials allowed Roddick to use that court to PRACTICE on. Coria and his coach were furious and complained to officials who pretty much told them to pound sand. Later, the schedule was rearranged to accomodate Roddick which brought complaints from Coria, Ferrero and other foreign players. When reporters later asked Roddick about the practice incident and those guys having to play several days in a row while he got plenty of rest he laughed and said "Well, that's too bad for them". He could have said something about how it was unfortunate that the rain caused some players to have to play with less rest than others. But no, he laughed about it. That's when I realized what a selfish little twit he really is and I took a dislike to him. His behavior since then has only compounded my dislike.


It's far too soon to call Federer the best ever, but I can tell you without any hesitation that he is already better than Borg. He may not yet have Borg's consistency but he has a more well-rounded game and he's only going to get better.

As I said I am not in his camp nor do I get paid to defend him so I'll stop. I just think it's unfair to judge him solely on behaviors that everyone else on tour does. The other night Nadia Petrova also went and got a towel in the middle of a service point but I don't see pages of people saying how entitled she is etc...

Whether Ancic was trying to psych himself up or not, his gestures were gamesmanship pure and simple. As is walking away from the line and making the server play at your pace. Does Roddick do it? Sure. Does everyone on tour do it? You betcha. But again, I don't see pages of people coming down on other players.

I understand that when you get the lion's share of the press and attention you also will get the lion's share of the criticism. I just hate seeing people judged unfairly for what is fairly common behavior.

By the way,it's not like Andy's my favorite player or anything. Lindsay Davenport holds that honor. Chris Evert favorite all time. Two players that most would say did not display gamesmanship or much attitude on court. So it's not like I am saying Roddick's behavior is ok....just that let's be frank and say that what we're saying is entitlement on his part is actually pretty common behavior in today's game.

I disagree with the notion that his game is just his serve. Maybe when he came up but he now has show really nice touch at the net and a sweet slice backhand to go with the power forehand. Federer is still the better player though.

And until Roger wins Wimbledon five consecutive times, I still give the edge to Borg. Remember Borg retired at 26...at the top of his profession. Who knows how many more slams he would have claimed had he stayed.

If he felt he needed to retire at the top of his profession, then my guess is not many. He retired for a reason. He no longer wanted to play. Desire is as important as talent, and Borg no longer had the desire to play.

And to clarify, Roddick's entitlement issues have nothing to do with the fact that he engages in the same gamesmanship of the other players, but in the fact that he whines when others do it and gets indignant when he gets called on it. He doesn't hold himself to the same standard he expects of others.

He did it again last night. Did anyone see that face he pulled (reminded me of that damn smirk a certain "world" leader likes to make) when Kiefer got pissed off and slammed his racket into the net? Does Andy remember doing the EXACT SAME THING (except against the ground and not the net) against Max the night before? Yes, Kiefer was wrong to slam the racket and yes, so was Andy but the thing that puts Andy on my bad side is that face. Stop mocking the other player when you do the same thing, buddy.


Yup, I've heard the exact same thing. And remember Kimberly Williams being asked about her years with Pete? She said she didn't want to remember that time at all.


I agree. Andy could have beat Max in straight sets if he adjusted to what Max was doing. I was praying for no rain delay so Brad wouldn't be able to tell Andy what to do to win quicker.

I'm sticking to my belief that I would like Andy if I was still in my twenties. I loved Andre from the get-go and he was a hell of a lot more annoying in his early years but Andre is my age and I had no problem with that back then.

Back to the actual topic...

I'm not a fan of Mal Washington who always seems more trite than most and lacks any semblance of a sense of humor, but he did something last night that I really appreciated. I always hate when someone calls out something from the stands, everyone laughs, and the announcers prattle on with their commentary as though nothing has happened. Sometimes they even chuckle but don't tell you at what. To me, the crowd is part of the match and I'm always curious to hear what was said so when Mal Washington actually repeated one of those last night during the Roddick-Kiefer match it was a "Yay" moment for me.

On the minus side, I was really hoping to see the Hewitt-Guga match but because of the rain delay it didn't make the TV coverage window. I do hate snarking on God, though.

I'm not 100% sure about this, but I don't think Pete had many friends on tour at all during his 13+ years on tour. Possibily Jim Courier in his early career, but that's about it. He always seemed kind of figuratively detatched to the rest of the tour compared to the other players. I mean, in comparison, Steffi Graf may not have been the most chummy-chummy on tour, but she certainly had her share of tour pals at one time or another (Gabby Sabatini, Renae Stubbs, etc).

I like Mal, but that probably has more to do with 1) I had a big crush on him when he was playing and 2) no Patrick. I think Mal chatters on too much, but I love that he: comments on specific things the players are doing that I might not catch, is appreciative of a great shot--whether an American makes it or not, makes a critical comment of a player during match play and then asks the player about it in the post-match interview.

I too would have liked to watch Hewitt-Guga. I just love Guga and as much as I don't love Hewitt, I want him to start playing really well again. I also would have have liked to watch Andre last night, hopefully I'll get that chance tonight since he is the scheduled night match again.

LT, point taken on Mal. I still find him irritating but I can't quite put my finger on why. I think it's just stylistic. But you're right, an evening without "The droppah!" is a good evening.

Who is Agassi playing tonight?

I like watching Hewitt because he's the Darth Vader in my personal tennis drama. I play a game where whenever he yells "Come on!" I yell "Come on, you obnoxious bigot!"

One hour till ESPN coverage, woo hoo! No rain, no rain, no rain!

Agassi vs. Chela tonight. And if coverage begins at 1pm EST you get Moya first. Roddick is up after him.


Dang it! His voice actually invaded my head when I read that phrase.


Heh. A friend calls him "a cheeky little monkey" so I go with that.

They are about to show Agassi v. Johansson. Is this a repeat? Oh, it's nightime, it must be. What's up with that? If Agassi is playing Chela tonight then I guess I can look forward to a really suspenseful match. [/sarcasm]


I like that too. I can't hate him as much now that he's engaged to Kim. How could Kim love Darth Vader?

Oops! I had no idea they were going to show last night's match. I wouldn't have given it away! I got the results from the internet this morning.

Aw, LT, how could you have known? Clearly the actual match that is going on right now features no Americans.

Yea! Posts about tennis coverage rather than Roddick bashing!

I agree there's something about Mal that I don't like. I don't even like reading his articles on ESPN.com. But he does seem to shut up when there's play going on.

Grrr, you just know they'll go live at the start of Blahddick's match. HATE.

Well Mal also spent a portion of his recent article on ESPN.com, talking about how the Rogers cup is Sharapova's first tournament after Wimbledon and how she was smart to take such time off.

Um....Mal.....Myskina beat her last weak in San Diego. Can he get a fact checker please??

Oh dear, I'm all alone in my Mal love. That's okay--more for me. As for showing Andre instead of something actually going on--if they want Americans the Bryan brothers (now, there is some hate from me) are playing right now. Show doubles! I love watching doubles!

Yes, I just heard this unbelievable exchange:
Cliff: Blah Blah Blah, what do you think, Mal?
Mal: Well, I'll answer right after this point.

I really thought it was live from the Fantasyland Open when I heard that.


I could use a good chest-bumping right about now but I think they are going to show the end of Moya vs. Arthurs and then Roddick vs. Srichaphan. You will all be shocked, shocked to hear that Agassi won his match.

Word on both points, especially no. 1. I find his commentary refreshing next to Patrick's "Andy this, Andy that."

From reading this thread, is it true that ESPN actually showed the Agassi match this afternoon instead of live tennis? What is this, The French Open? I didn't know the result of the match and was eager to watch it then suddenly ESPN's scrolling scoreboard said the following: "Agassi vs. Chela, tonight at 7:30 p.m." Thanks, ESPN.

Mal said the exact same thing during tonight's Agassi-Chela match so apparently nobody at ESPN caught the earlier error.

That is so annoying. It doesn't take much to fact check. God I hate sloppy announcing.

The guy who was calling play by play during the first two tournaments Lindsay won this summer (what is his name?? Tony Allen or something?) was the WORST!!! I was sitting there watching and saying, "No she didn't you twit"; "No that's wrong too". "God!! Isn't someone fact checking for him???"

I know it has been said ad nauseum but last night's coverage really showcased the problems with the commentators: I love Andre but by the end of the match even I was getting sick of hearing about him. Everyone knows: 1) he's 34 2) his career has had its up and downs 3) he's 34 4) he's known as the best returner in the game 5) still 34 6) he calls Las Vegas his home 7) his fitness has become very important to him. I wanted to know more about Chela. Mal and Cliff throw out a couple of interesting facts in the beginning (no money, no youth program, getting his own sponsors as a kid, paying those sponsors back as soon as he could--even though the sponsors didn't want their money back) and that was it. Nothing else about him as a person the rest of the match.

I do like that Mal really gives the tennis player insight during the match. At one point he said "here comes the lob" moments before Andre hit a point-winning lob and then explained exactly why that was the only shot to make. And Cliff has completely stopped talking during a point--even if he was in the middle of a sentence.

I didn't get home till nine so missed the Agassi match. But I did see the "end" of Soderling-Haas. I use quotes because ESPN cut off the match at 5-3 in the 3rd set to go to Baseball Tonight!!!! HATE.YOU.ESPN.

Oh, and in the 30 minutes I saw it was mentioned at least 6 times that Soderling is 20 so it ain't just Agassi. I guess they just run out of things to say.

Which is funny, 'cause he's 19--they kept alternating between the two ages. I guess he's almost 20.

What is even funnier about leaving tennis when Haas was so close (I'm not saying who won because you never know what ESPN will show today) was that the night before (or the night before that) Cliff made a point of saying that they wouldn't think of leaving live tennis at the end of the scheduled time.

Here's the key:

When Cliff said that, how many Americans were playing? I'm betting the answer is either one or two.

And thanks for that. It's scary when last night's results are a spoiler.

Grrrrrrr! Being a Canadian with no option of ESPN or The Tennis Channel, I'm forced to rely on TSN for my ATP tennis needs. While I can understand there are reasons out there as to why TSN has to rebroadcast ESPN's coverage of events, I simply can't understand TSN's program scheduling decisions.

Early round matches of the Cincinnati Masters event were bundled into 90minutes of programming between 5:00pm and 6:30pm Monday and Tuesday evening. The round of 16 coverage was reduced to 60minutes at 1:00 o'clock in the morning last night. The quarterfinal coverage is the same tonight.

But what about the semi-finals and finals? Following the pattern they've set up this week, it will air for 30minutes at 4:30am. But nope, it doesn't seem to be on the schedule AT ALL! Pardon me, but WTF??? Why bother with the build up to the finals/semi-finals and then not even bother to show it? This really pisses me off. Not to mention that I can pretty much guess, given the use of ESPN coverage, what TSN will air tonight during its 1hr devoted to the quarterfinal action. Oh, Andy "Mr. Centre Court Evening Match" Roddick, you again? I couldn't possibly have seen enough of you last week.

That is too wacky. Why would they show anything if they aren't going to show the last rounds? And how do they smush all that tennis into 90 minutes or an hour?

The coverage of the Capriati-Likhotseva match from Montreal was great, IMO. One question though, who in the Sam Hell was that in the booth with Luke Jensen? All the regular ladies commentators are either on maternity leave or in Athens getting ready for the Olympics, I suppose.

BWAH! and double BWAH! to this. I agree with you 100% (I think I've heard the whole Andy lives in Austin and roomed with Mardy Fish story 100 times) but I think ESPN does that so that the non-hardcore tennis fans will get the back story on Andre.



Problem here is that Baseball Tonight brings in more ratings than tennis so you really can't blame ESPN (not that I agree with their decision)



Didn't watch the coverage but Pam Shriver just had her baby and Mary Joe Fernandez is due to give birth soon. As far as the Olympics, the only ESPN commentator that's going is probably Mary Carillo i think

vallegirl, I hope you're still checking in here. What happened? I watched the match but didn't watch the trophy ceremony closely. Man, it was a great match.

This time, I have to give Patrick McEnroe some slack on his Roddick prediction. I'm a total Federer fan, but he looked completely out of wack all week. He was so frustrated that he actually threw his racket (!!!) several times. Not violently, but still, the racket she was thrown several times by the lovely Swiss player.

So, given that this is Roddick's favorite surface and that he has been playing really well, I thought this was the time he might catch Federer.

I also have to chime in that I think Federer is like Tiger Woods in the "greatest of all time" debate: Federer is playing and Woods was playing (sniff - I love Tiger) their sports better than anyone ever has. That's what makes people who have watched the games for years go ga-ga. They can't believe they are seeing the game being played that way. I remember during last year's Wimbledon final, I called my brother and left the following message in his machine: "Roger Federer. Oh, my God."

But Federer isn't up with the greatest champions yet, and Tiger isn't up with Nicklaus yet.

Well ESPN should be happy

Andre vs. Andy in the semifinals

I never knew TWoP has a tennis section! I am delighted to see I am not the only one frustrated with ESPNs coverage. I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments.

And now, a comment for ESPN:

"Dear ESPN executives/morons,

The world will not end if you fail to show one Roddick or Agassi match. Really, it won't. Trust me.

I enjoy watching Agassi, but if he played the previous night, and there are live matches going on, I'd like to see the live tennis. Please ESPN, why do you hate the diehard tennis fans? Today, instead of watching the whole Hewitt semi, we only get one set because we're force-fed Roddick again. And there is zero suspence when you start the Hewitt match in set 2 and there are only 30 minutes until Agassi
vs Roddick starts. Very disappointing."

OK, I feel better now.

ESPN claims that they show americans because otherwise they won't get ratings. But that's a self-perpetuating cycle. Show people only americans and they won't get to know other players - therefore they won't have any interest in other players - therefore they won't watch. I firmly believe that if ESPN showed more of other players (Ferrero, Coria, Nalbdandian, whomever), the casual fans would get to know them better and perhaps be interested enough to watch them play even if they are not playing an american. It worked with Rafter, Graf, and many other foreign players - there is a fan base here for non-americans, ESPN.

Also, I have to comment on the Capriati match.

I was completely annoyed by Luke Jensen's commentary during the Capriati- Likhovtseva match. While his usual schtick is bad enough, in this match he combined it with way too much Capriati-worship and just plain stupid statements.

"Capriati is one of the best in history?" C'mon Luke, you can't possibly believe that - she's won 3 majors and been #1 for a little while, but she's not even in the top 5 of her contemporaries (Graf, Williamsx2, Hingis, Henin-Hardenne, and arguably Davenport will all rate above her in career accomplishments when they are done).

"Agassi likes to keep the points short." Say what? Am I watching a different Agassi than him?

Then he tries to tell us Capriati is in good shape for the US Open because she "fought hard after being down in this match". What, did he expect her to give up? Losing 2 and 5 to Likhovtseva is hardly great preparation for the US Open for Capriati - after all, this is a match she was expected to win.

I was yelling "Shut Up Luke" almost every other point. It was amazing how much praise he could continue to heap on someone losing a match so handily. At least his sidekick, whomever he was, seemed to be fairly impartial. Bless LIkhovtseva... with Capriati gone, I don't have to hear any more homerism during the women's tourney, at least.

Can you imagine how popular Rafter would have been here in the States had he been getting better known in the years leading up to his two U.S. Open wins? As it is he will always stand as The Ideal Man in my personal pantheon, and amazingly enough it's more for the kind of guy he is than for his looks.

Harry24, at the ceremony in Toronto, Federer said that he was sure him and Roddick would have a great rivalry and that Roddick would win his fair share of them. Right behind him, Roddick kinda stuck out his tongue and shook his head, as if to say "yeah, right, stop being gracious, I can't beat you". Not very classy, though not terrible.

And today, Roddick is acting like a spoiled brat against Agassi. It seems like anytime he gets down in a match, he gets mad and starts cursing, and has an attitude of 'how dare anybody try to beat me!' And when he doesn't agree with a line call, he starts throwing hissy fits ala McEnroe (not quite as bad, obviously). Sometimes Roddick is gracious, and sometimes he takes things in stride, so I'm not saying he's horrible or anything. But his overall attitude is too 'in your face' for my liking. I want to like him, but I just can't. The Roddick-worship by all the announcers except for Mal (yay Mal!) is completely unwarranted.

Andre Agassi is my hero. Sure the commentators annoyingly go on and on about him, but seeing as though he's won 8 majors and has been around forever and is still playing great, I think it is warranted. I just loved the way he beat probably the two brattiest and entitled players out there in succession. Did you see Hewitt's half-hearted handshake at the end. It must have been a blow to both Dandy Andy's and Lleyton's ego to lose to a (gasp!) 34 yr old.

Oh, and add me to the list of those who actually like Mal Washington's commentary. He can be a little dry, but he seems fairly impartial and doesn't over commentate.