Chris Evert is a crappy commentator

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Praetorian

Professional
She's the ultimate armchair quarterback. All she ever does is complain about how a person plays. A player could be up 5-0, 40-0, and still have some kind of "improvement" commentary. She's getting as bad a Pam "I-was-the-greatest-player-you've-just-didnt-notice" Shriver
 
B

BTURNER

Legend
Praetorian said:
She's the ultimate armchair quarterback. All she ever does is complain about how a person plays. A player could be up 5-0, 40-0, and still have some kind of "improvement" commentary. She's getting as bad a Pam "I-was-the-greatest-player-you've-just-didnt-notice" Shriver
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She used to be OK but never anything special. I haven't watched much tennis this decade
 
L

Limpinhitter

G.O.A.T.
BTURNER said:
She used to be OK but never anything special. I haven't watched much tennis this decade
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I'd be OK with 18 majors too! I haven't heard her commentate lately, but, as I recall, she's one of the more insightful, interesting tennis commentators that I've ever heard. When she speaks, it's the undisputed truth.
 
BobFL

BobFL

Hall of Fame
I don't like her comments. I think she is still in 'sorority' mode. Sometimes I just cannot believe how she behaves given her age.
 
D

Datacipher

Banned
Praetorian said:
She's the ultimate armchair quarterback. All she ever does is complain about how a person plays. A player could be up 5-0, 40-0, and still have some kind of "improvement" commentary. She's getting as bad a Pam "I-was-the-greatest-player-you've-just-didnt-notice" Shriver
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I wasn't in love with Arthur Ashe as a commentator, but he did offer some great insights about what really made a player great. Not the obvious, and not always true: look at his big forehand....

But I'll never forget when Ashe, Shriver, and Drysdale were comparing forehands of players, Ashe made fun of Shriver's forehand on air, and concluded by calling it "the shovel!". Even Shriver couldn't help herself and had to laugh, saying "thanks Arthur!"
 
S

scootad.

Semi-Pro
She definitely is of the Captain Obvious school and tends to repeat the same things over and over. During the Woz-Kuz match she kept saying "I don't know why Woz keeps hitting from 6 feet behind the baseline, blah blah" and basically calling her a paper #1, then when Woz comes back she's full of praise "she didn't get to #1 for nothing." blah blah.

Sadly, she's still better than Mary Carillo and Shriver.
 
P

Praetorian

Professional
rod99 said:
terrible commentator. offers no real analysis at all and fumbles around for words.
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This is exactly what I'm talking about. No real analysis. It's all, "she should do xxx, she should do yyy." "When I was playing I did..." Somehow Chrissy would turn whatever is going on, into something about HER.
 
suwanee4712

suwanee4712

Professional
I always find it interesting to listen to a former player give their take on an issue or what is happening during a match. Sometimes Chris lets us in and gives us a good insight. But commentating just isn't her strength, and her participation in documentaries or segments isn't much better.

Unlike Martina, who remembers everything, Chris gets so much wrong. Even when discussing her own matches she just doesn't have a good memory. I think Chris is very honest and doesn't go the selective memory route. This just isn't a good that she's really good at.

I remember when she replaced Joanne Russell at NBC. Joanne could be extremely annyoing, biased towards her favorites, and argued with Bud too much. But Chris suffered by comparison to her. And I always thought Virginia Wade, Ann Jones, and Mary Carillo (the 80's Carillo that is) were some of the better ones. Mac hits it out of the ball park.
 
W

Worst.Username.Ever

New User
Evert is the worst. She is negative and goes on way too long about it in a particularly self-involved way: "Well when I was playing..." They suffer her because she was a great player. Great players seldom make the best commentators, John McEnroe notwithstanding. Anyway, he can be an obnoxious homer. The best one for my money is Mary Carillo. Knows a lot about the game, has a good energy, is never needlessly negative, and is witty.
 
heftylefty

heftylefty

Hall of Fame
Worst.Username.Ever said:
Evert is the worst. She is negative and goes on way too long about it in a particularly self-involved way: "Well when I was playing..." They suffer her because she was a great player. Great players seldom make the best commentators, John McEnroe notwithstanding. Anyway, he can be an obnoxious homer. The best one for my money is Mary Carillo. Knows a lot about the game, has a good energy, is never needlessly negative, and is witty.
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I am with you regarding Mary Carillo. She knows her stuff and is insightful.

And I agree with you regarding Evert.
 
Mick

Mick

Legend
evert is bad but imo, mary joe is worse because she often would criticize how some wta players are playing and in her playing days, mary joe wasn't that a great of player. at least chris evert is a 18-time GS champion. i wish mary joe would stop doing this. those players whom she criticizes (such as wozniacki) would beat her at her prime, easily.
 
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stormholloway

stormholloway

Legend
Mick said:
evert is bad but imo, mary joe is worse because she often would criticize how some wta players are playing and in her playing days, mary joe wasn't that a great of player. at least chris evert is a 18-time GS champion. i wish mary joe would stop doing this. those players whom she criticizes (such as wozniacki) would beat her at her prime, easily.
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I don't really think that's fair. This is called the "tu quoque" fallacy. Just because Mary Joe wasn't the best tennis player doesn't make criticism any less valid. Should she only criticize players lower than her highest ranking? It doesn't make *sense.

Back to the OP: I wholeheartedly disagree. I've always liked Chris Evert's commentary. I think she's insightful. I generally think the ESPN commentators are solid and that most people on TT just want something to complain about. Pam Shriver irks me a bit, but I don't lose sleep over her.
 
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Mick

Mick

Legend
stormholloway said:
I don't really think that's fair. This is called the "tu quoque" fallacy. Just because Mary Joe wasn't the best tennis player doesn't make criticism any less valid. Should she only criticize players lower than her highest ranking? It doesn't make.
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i don't like her criticizing the ability of players because the other commentators don't do it. if they did, they would do it very briefly. MJ on the other hand would go on and on about how these players should play. Chris Evert hasn't done this, i don't think.
 
S

scootad.

Semi-Pro
You get the sense she is just 'winging it' in the booth which would be fine if she actually had some interesting insights. But to be honest most commentators leave a lot to be desired...MJF, Evert, Shriver, Carillo, Austin all pretty much suck and are of the Captain Obvious school of commentating. The only ones I enjoy (or have enjoyed in the past) are Virginia Wade, Navratilova, Billie Jean King as at least they talked strategy in more detail than simply ("she's too defensive, standing too far back"). But of course part of the problem is there isn't much strategy left in the women's game. Very few come to the net or even hit spins.
 
L

Limpinhitter

G.O.A.T.
Worst.Username.Ever said:
Evert is the worst. She is negative and goes on way too long about it in a particularly self-involved way: "Well when I was playing..." They suffer her because she was a great player. Great players seldom make the best commentators, John McEnroe notwithstanding. Anyway, he can be an obnoxious homer. The best one for my money is Mary Carillo. Knows a lot about the game, has a good energy, is never needlessly negative, and is witty.
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Wut? Evert is the worst and Carillo is the best? BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA . . .
 
Gonzalito17

Gonzalito17

Banned
Chris Evert is a joy to listen to. She is a legend, she loves the sport and she knows what it takes. I loved listening to her last night do the JJ-Wozniacki match, felt she really explained the dynamics of that match accurately as only a former slam champ can. JJ tried to play Caro's game inthe first set but that failed then she went to plan B and tried to more assertive and it almost worked. She praised JJ's attitude which was very positive but did criticize her serve which is basically all arm. Chris Evert is a legend and whatever she says about tennis deserves respect. Same with Jimmy COnnors. Even though COnnors was very bland in his commentary - think he got released by the Tennis CHannel because he was too bland - still it's Jimbo, JImmy Connors talking about tennis. You have to respect what a legend like JImbo has to say about tennis.
 
ttbrowne

ttbrowne

Hall of Fame
I'm starting to see your point. After the Serena match she said something like "...there were lots of players who could've beaten Serena today. She was playing poorly."
Did she even WATCH the match? Makarova kicked her a**. The more she kicked the more Serena threw in the drama. Evert is an a**.
 
W

Worst.Username.Ever

New User
Let's face it, what ESPN does now is strictly cheerleading for the Americans. It's clear the commentators have all been more or less instructed to put American spin (no pun intended) on everything, even if no American is left in the tournament. It gets quite tiresome. Mind you CBS does it too. McEnroe annoyed the hell out of me at last year's US Open making excuses for and defending Serena's psycho *****-ass ravings and coming close to trashing Sam Stosur who is clearly the classiest act in women's tennis.
 
B

BTURNER

Legend
In the end, no one looks for video clips of Evert the commentator, but they still want to see her play tennis because she had one of the best minds and personalities to succeed in that sport, tennis has seen. Pure undiluted concentration of the mind, and a character soaked in discipline, pride and determination never to loose a point, a game or match.
 
8

8F93W5

Rookie
Praetorian said:
She's the ultimate armchair quarterback. All she ever does is complain about how a person plays. A player could be up 5-0, 40-0, and still have some kind of "improvement" commentary. She's getting as bad a Pam "I-was-the-greatest-player-you've-just-didnt-notice" Shriver
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Pam has that attitude? I disagree.
 
PDJ

PDJ

G.O.A.T.
I disagree. With respect, I think evert brings a wealth of experience and a lightness of speech which is refreshing. Plus she's got, to me, a great sense of humour which adds to her appeal.
 
TomT

TomT

Hall of Fame
Mick said:
evert is bad but imo, mary joe is worse because she often would criticize how some wta players are playing and in her playing days, mary joe wasn't that a great of player. at least chris evert is a 18-time GS champion. i wish mary joe would stop doing this. those players whom she criticizes (such as wozniacki) would beat her at her prime, easily.
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I think you've got to cut these former players turned commentators a bit of slack. I do like some better than others. Evert isn't one of my favorites.

I used to watch Evert practice at Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale back in the 70's. It was a pretty impressive experience.
 
TomT

TomT

Hall of Fame
Praetorian said:
She's the ultimate armchair quarterback. All she ever does is complain about how a person plays. A player could be up 5-0, 40-0, and still have some kind of "improvement" commentary. She's getting as bad a Pam "I-was-the-greatest-player-you've-just-didnt-notice" Shriver
Click to expand...
The function of players turned commentators is to be armchair quarterbacks. As an amateur player and fan, I'm interested in anything that any of these former players have to say. But again, I do like some of them more than others, and I'm not really sure why.
 
PDJ

PDJ

G.O.A.T.
TomT said:
The function of players turned commentators is to be armchair quarterbacks. As an amateur player and fan, I'm interested in anything that any of these former players have to say. But again, I do like some of them more than others, and I'm not really sure why.
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It may be the tone of the voice? Becker & novotna have commented for the BBC at times, and I'm sure what they say is interesting (or maybe nit?) but their English just sends me to sleep. Possibly much better (as in insight) in their native language.
 
TomT

TomT

Hall of Fame
PDJ said:
It may be the tone of the voice? Becker & novotna have commented for the BBC at times, and I'm sure what they say is interesting (or maybe nit?) but their English just sends me to sleep. Possibly much better (as in insight) in their native language.
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I don't think it's the tone of voice so much as the verbal content. I haven't heard Novatna yet. But have heard Becker. He's ok, in my opinion. When I heard him he was commentating with Tim Henman, whose comments I enjoyed, and another British bloak who seemed to be trying a bit too hard to contribute something informative.

Back to Evert, I do think she has a nice sense of humor. Imo, most all of the commentators do. My favorite commentators are actually the McEnroe brothers -- the rest are pretty much acceptable, imo ... no substantial complaints.

I do like Brad Gilbert's insights, though sometimes his enthusiasm seems a bit too goofy to me. But that's just a matter of taste I guess, and doesn't take anything away from the substance of his comments. I just wish he'd stop saying "all a sudden".
 
TomT

TomT

Hall of Fame
Maybe Novatna should be Novotna, and bloak should be bloke. I don't know. Anyway, if I mispelled these in my post #49, then I apologize.
 
PDJ

PDJ

G.O.A.T.
You are right to correct my spelling of novotna and your own correction re bloke.
I've not heard Gilbert commentate, but certainly enjoy JM. I was also very pleasantly surprised by courier's contribution at Roland Garros for British TV. He tended to be quite honest which was refreshing.
I've always particularly enjoyed Jo Durie- she comes across as a very jolly decent human being, who thinks before she speaks so tends to only offer insightful comments. In my opinion :)
 
W

waarp

Rookie
All of the commentators--Evert, Courier, Cahill, Gilbert, Carillo, PMac, Gimelstop, Drysdale, Austin, etc are annoying except for Johnny Mac.

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