Tennis and ESPN: Winners and Unforced Errors!

Over the years, tennis has come and gone from many different venues and vehicles, from the BBC (lots of quiet air time), to live streaming (lots of quiet time with neither audio nor video as your bandwidth freezes).

As an avid tennis fan, I find ESPN to be a breath of fresh air.  I am old enough to remember what we used to get in the U.S. 10 years age—namely a 15 minute summary of the early rounds of a Slam like Wimbledon after the late night news, if we were lucky. 

Then came finals coverage—‘Breakfast at Wimbledon'—for which I always rose at 6 AM every year with great anticipation, and listened to Dick Edberg’s mellifluous tones coupled with Bud Collins calling Chris Evert ‘Chrissy’ and Arantxa Sanchez -Vicario ‘Bumblebee.’ 

(For a tennis fan, the only thing worse than tennis coverage from ten to fifteen years ago is Fox Sports Network tennis coverage today, in which matches cannot be found, move around to channels not originally listed, and/or are pre-empted by high school basketball matches or anything not-tennis that Fox can find.)

Of the venues in which tennis can be enjoyed, ESPN produces clear winners!  ESPN paints the lines, getting just inside the boundaries, and keeping the error count low.

Winners

1. Chris Fowler is a breath of fresh air. 
   
2. Commentary with the three guys: Fowler, Brad Gilbert, and Darren Cahill.  
   
3. Play-by-play and commentary with Patrick McEnroe and Dick Edberg.  
   
4. The absence of John McEnroe (OK, I do enjoy John, but a little of John goes a long way)
   
5. Carillo/Drysdale/Shriver.
   
6. I love the mix of commentators on ESPN, and mostly find that by comparison The Tennis Channel’s (TTC) broadcasts lacks a certain energy. One of my favorite moments in the 2008 coverage of one of the best rivalries in sports these days—that between Rafael Nadal (the world’s No. 1) and Roger Federer (13-times Slam Champion and world No. 2), was at Wimbledon watching four different ‘boxes’, and about 12 different commentators, give their editorial remarks, on-air on ESPN, about the looming (and now classic) 2008 Wimbledon final. Though it looked a little bit like The Hollywood Squares, what a treat for a tennis fan! It was like the build-up to the Superbowl, and the match itself did not disappoint. A far cry from the old days where you could hardly follow what was at stake with a single broadcast of an isolated final.
   
7. Different commentators take the lead at different times in a tournament, giving the viewer the benefit of different ‘flavors’ to the coverage at any given time.
   

Unforced Errors

1. During the Australian Open, 2009, I was logged into the blog at Tennis.com almost every day, and mid way through the week, Steve Tignor (a regular editor) published his first impressions of the Slam. His final comment was reserved for the ESPN coverage, in which he talked about the omnipresent ‘Crawl.’  This excited a wave of comments about the ESPN tennis coverage (in which The Crawl was universally loathed).
   
2. ESPN provides too many people with microphones. A case can be made that there are too many commentators. Bouncing around from head to head detracts from the tennis. Watching a re-run of a Nadal match on TTC, with the more subdued TTC coverage, I could appreciate so much more the virtuosity of Nadal's performance . 
   
3. Too much American-centric tennis. Tennis is international, and tennis talent is not confined to American shores.
   
4. Too many fillers not related to tennis.   
   

‘On-Air’-rors!

1. A hugely funny moment happened between Fowler and Gilbert at the 2008 Roger's Cup, when Brad twice wondered aloud whether Rafael Nadal's girlfriend (who rarely travels with him, but was present in the audience) was going to 'ride the Beast' when the match was over. After a funny look from Fowler, Brad explained that there was an amusement park across the street with a big roller coaster called The Beast. Fowler had to tell Gilbert no more comments about The Beast, that this was broadcast television. 
   
2. Fun moments over the summer when Rafael Nadal was about to take over the No. 1 spot in the world, and Gilbert was predicting with great enthusiasm that Rafa would win the match being broadcast that night, despite Fowler’s on-air interview with Rafa in which the player acknowledged being fatigued and worn out. Rafa lost that match so badly...and Gilbert, somewhat sheepishly in the middle of the match turned to Fowler and said - maybe I should have listened to you!
   
3. A fun moment in the broadcast booth when Rafa came for a visit just before the World Cup soccer semifinal match between Spain and Germany. Nadal was itching to depart to watch the soccer match, and Cahill started talking soccer with him in the on-air interview, and they almost forgot to re-cap the tennis match!
   
4. This from Tignor’s blog: Back in Wimbledon 2007, when Gilbert, Cahill and Fowler were at commentary headquarters, one of my favorite bits was when Gilbert boldly claimed that "the title was Ralph's to lose." Gilbert kept referring to Rafa as Ralph. Cahill and Fowler were doing their devil's advocate part to counteract Gilbert and finally Fowler who is more aware of on-air etiquette said to Gilbert "One more Ralph and it's to the moon." It was so funny, a reference to The Honeymooners. 
   

These were fun, informal, unpretentious moments, moments that make ESPN a pleasure to watch. Tennis fans are lucky enough these days in which there are enough venues that they can be selective about which they choose to watch!