Doug Adler, the absolute worst...

[Ronaldo]

Originally Posted by LaneMyer

Enberg is nearly 80 so obviously that's a factor. But he gave a match that 'main event' feel just with his voice and credibility alone. He's tennis' Vin Scully. He didn't really stop, he does play by play for SD Padres games now which means we get Bill Macatee and Ian Eagle for the CBS televised slams...which is fine. I like Macatee a lot. Eagle has no personality and I'm fairly certain he's a robot, but he's technically sound. I can understand why some wouldn't like Brad Gilbert. I prefer him in the actual commentating on match role or the side-court whisperer role as opposed to the studio or outside of the stadium at the desk - role where he turns into a carnival barker.

I also forgot to mention Jim Courier who sparingly commentates now. I'd like to see him more as well. I know he has Davis Cup commitments and I know international broadcasting companies use him for majors as well, but if he could takeover the slams for the gigs that Mary Carillo lands here in the US I'd be pleased with that.

Suspect many would be happy with no announcers, just a feed.

[Steve0904]

Originally Posted by LaneMyer

Enberg is nearly 80 so obviously that's a factor. But he gave a match that 'main event' feel just with his voice and credibility alone. He's tennis' Vin Scully. He didn't really stop, he does play by play for SD Padres games now which means we get Bill Macatee and Ian Eagle for the CBS televised slams...which is fine. I like Macatee a lot. Eagle has no personality and I'm fairly certain he's a robot, but he's technically sound. I can understand why some wouldn't like Brad Gilbert. I prefer him in the actual commentating on match role or the side-court whisperer role as opposed to the studio or outside of the stadium at the desk - role where he turns into a carnival barker.

I also forgot to mention Jim Courier who sparingly commentates now. I'd like to see him more as well. I know he has Davis Cup commitments and I know international broadcasting companies use him for majors as well, but if he could takeover the slams for the gigs that Mary Carillo lands here in the US I'd be pleased with that.

I know Enberg still commentates SD Padres games. I meant it was good for him to stop commentating on tennis. I never found Enberg to be all that exciting personally, but I guess you'd have to be older than me to get the nostalgic main event feeling. I'm the same way about Bob Cole. A bit off topic here, but he's a hockey commentator, and he's been around a while so he makes more mistakes than he used to, but he's Bob Cole, and when he commentates, if you don't get excited, IMO you don't have a heartbeat.

[LaneMyer]

Originally Posted by Seth

Doug Adler and Jimmy Arias are the bottom of the bucket for me.

I totally get the Adler dislike but can you explain a little what makes Arias subpar? Just curious. I find him to be pretty solid. Having never played one organized tennis match in my life I probably don't know as much about the technical or fundamental aspects of the game as some of you guys so I'm just curious if it's game-technical aspects, or just the tenor of their voice, or constantly interrupting or talking over their partners, or "goofiness" that I see some dislike Gimelstob for or so on. I probably put more emphasis on those that can smoothly craft a narrative and have a natural broadcasters voice than others. I'm also a stats nerd so I probably lean to those that implement them more as well. That's probably why I like Gimelstob and Fowler quite a bit more than others seem to.

[rainingaces]

Worst thing about addler other then his voice, picky negative comments and sence of superiority is he is faking it, he knows very little about the finer details of pro tennis.

[LaneMyer]

Originally Posted by Steve0904

I know Enberg still commentates SD Padres games. I meant it was good for him to stop commentating on tennis. I never found Enberg to be all that exciting personally, but I guess you'd have to be older than me to get the nostalgic main event feeling. I'm the same way about Bob Cole. A bit off topic here, but he's a hockey commentator, and he's been around a while so he makes more mistakes than he used to, but he's Bob Cole, and when he commentates, if you don't get excited, IMO you don't have a heartbeat.

yeah I'm a hockey guy so I know Bob Cole and totally get that. I'm 32 so it's not an age thing, but it could probably be considered a bit of a nostalgic thing with Enberg. It's just when I think of the major network commentators and slam tennis I think of the Enberg and John McEnroe team. So it probably feels like a bigger deal than it actually is. If that team did ATP250 level events it would probably seem much less so. Though that could also come from my relative noob-ness to becoming more of a dedicated tennis watcher over the last five years where before my college years I didn't pay much attention to who was or wasn't calling matches since I was more of a casual watcher then.

[LaneMyer]

Originally Posted by Ronaldo

Suspect many would be happy with no announcers, just a feed.

is there no volume controls or mute buttons on the TVs where you/they live?

[Ronaldo]

Originally Posted by LaneMyer

is there no volume controls or mute buttons on the TVs where you/they live?

Worn out from use, eh?

[single_handed_champion]

I like a couple of commentators on Eurosport, like David Mercer and Frew Mcmillan. They usually show a lot of enthusiasm when discussing points and know when to shut up, although the ladies sometimes don't do the same (still better than Carillo, Evert et al.). Koenig+Goodall is a great team, though they are tending to analyze too many points now; am tired of hearing Koenig exclaim 'That is ridiculous/unbelievable/out of this world etc.' after what are now routine gets for the top guys.

I have enjoyed Tim Henman's commentary during Wimbledon and quite like John Mcenroe when he is paired with the less talkative souls on the other side of the ocean.

Find-different-ways-to-summarize-matches-and-careers Dick Enberg, Carillo, Drysdale are bores. Gilbert is amusing, Cahill analyzes WAY too much. I kinda like Navratilova, Davenport too. There was a guy for the USO website who was commentating with Chanda Rubin that had to be the most ignorant commentator for a women's match ever. The pairing of Luke Jensen with another guy was pretty good too. It was zany in that they would talk about their rec matches and Luke would make up all kinds of loony expressions.

[DRII]

Originally Posted by rainingaces

Worst thing about addler other then his voice, picky negative comments and sence of superiority is he is faking it, he knows very little about the finer details of pro tennis.

Exactly!!!

[DRII]

Originally Posted by Steve0904

I know Enberg still commentates SD Padres games. I meant it was good for him to stop commentating on tennis. I never found Enberg to be all that exciting personally, but I guess you'd have to be older than me to get the nostalgic main event feeling. I'm the same way about Bob Cole. A bit off topic here, but he's a hockey commentator, and he's been around a while so he makes more mistakes than he used to, but he's Bob Cole, and when he commentates, if you don't get excited, IMO you don't have a heartbeat.

Enberg's voice alone makes him a grand commentator regardless of the sport!

And he obviously greatly appreciates tennis; kind of like Chris Fowler who has grown to like the sport (I don't think he really cared about tennis when he first started commentating for ESPN).

[roundiesee]

Originally Posted by Mustard

I like Vijay Amritraj on Star Sports too. He's always a laugh

Vijay is good "for a laugh" only if you have other commentators around as alternatives. I do not know whether you live in Asia, but for people who do, we simply rely solely on Star Sports as the exclusive broadcaster, and we HAVE to listen to Vijay and Allan talk endlessly, and I can tell you it is not the most pleasant experience,

[Gonzalito17]

Adler is okay but he tries to sound like an authority on tennis, by sounding a bit too critical and a bit of know it all, though he has no achievements as a player to speak of, as far as I know. He is simply not qualified to speak in those tones, he should just see himself as a set up man like Ted Robinson or Sam Gore.