ESPN: ANOTHER LOST SLAM

[marc tressard]

Yes, the post is repetitious but on the odd chance that someone at ESPN skims the TW board, let me reiterate that much of the flavor of this great tournament is being eviscerated by the largely all US player perch of ESPN coverage. It is like taking a gourmet meal at a French restaurant and tossing away all but the appetizer. By the time we get to the 4th round we have been deprived of the entre and vegetables and sauces and wine. We are left with some cheesecake and a special order of supersized fries. Expecially on the terre battue U.S. players are not the center of the universe. And barring an act of God, the Williamses will be around for your 4th round and beyond. The Agassi and Capriati matches were entertaining but were a lucky development. I hope that ESPN understands that Santoro- Clement was the showcase, not Venus
Tanasugarn; in fact, ESPN hoped Affaire Santoro match would conclude in 15 minutes so they could get to the irrrelevant Venus hitting session. And so it goes, Slam after Slam. If we get a run of significant matches it will thanks to chance alone.

 

[pound cat]

If I'm lucky enough to get ESPN International, which happens occasionally in Canada, I see European players, and if I was in Argentina I'd see the S. Americans. ESPN does in fact have a wide range of programming. IMO it would be pointless to show these to an American sports audience which for the most part are not international thinking. In an effort to reach the widest audience (even so there are few to none who watch tennis) ESPN US shows Americans. Pitiful for a true tennis fan, but as we now it's all about money & ratings. And that's the way it is.

 

[Web Crawler]

Dang Man, Can you guys stop complaining, All Ive seen is ESPN Sucks, ESPN Blows, ESPN needs better coverage, well while I would like to see some other people I dont have the Tennis Channel so any Tennis On Tv is fine by me. This whole section has been just complaining, complaining, no wonder why other countries dont like us. We cant be grateful for what we got.

 

[bigserving]

I feel ya Crawler. All of this whining got boring a long time ago. For every one who complains on this post, there are probably tens of thousands who truly enjoy ESPN's coverage.

Free speech is great and I just wish that more people would use it more constructively.

For instance, each time I get a phone call or letter offering me a new cable or satellite, I ask them if they offer The Tennis Channel. I know that it is not offered in my area but, maybe if they hear the question enough times, they might eventually offer it. I think that is a more effective way of whining.

Instead of complaining on this post, pick up the phone or write a letter to ESPN and let the right people know how you feel. Who knows, it might make a difference. Whining here won't.

 

[python]

I disagree. Complaining on public forums such as TalkTennis does indeed help get the word out about viewer dissatisfaction. The TennisWeek forums are very good, too, since TennisWeek regularly interviews ESPN executives about their tennis programming decisions.

ESPN is well aware of how much they are ticking off hardcore tennis fans. At this point, they still think their strategy of promoting only US players is a sound one, but the only way they will change their minds is if they become convinced that they are turning off more people than they can afford. Making visible complaints through forums is part of this process.

 

[irishbanger]

Roddick is the last American standing and he's not doing well. What will ESPN do, stop showing the men's matches and go to "All Williams All the Time" mode?

 

[007]

is it hardly surprising that ESPN's coverage is so amero-centric. You should know by now that they show yanks in matches regardless of how crappy those matches mighy be while excellent, interesting matches may be occurring on other courts. It's the american way damnit. You're either down wit dat or a prospect for assiimilation as one of the super-sized sheep

 

[Matt H.]

Here's one of my main arguements with the hating ESPN thing:


ESPN bought out the rights to 3 out of the 4 Grand Slams. The Grand Slams are THE biggest and most important tournaments in the sport. By only showing american players (it took 16-14 in the 5th for them to show the Clement/Santoro match) they are seriously hurting the game as a whole, at the expense of trying to promote the American players.

It's so bad that even the U.S. tennis fans are starting to hate it. Blow out, boring matches are no fun to watch. Show an American player when he's playing a quality opponent, or if he's in the semi's or finals cuz then he has to be shown on tv.

You never saw this **** when Wimbledon was shown on TNT. They showed the quality match ups of the day. Not like this ESPN ********. Like last year when Roddick beat Federer at the Canada TMS. They canceled the live Nalbandian semi-final match to re-air the Roddick match that was played no less then 2 hours earlier.

 

[James Brown]

matt, in all fairness the roddick federer match was ****ing awesome... except for the roddick winning part.. :> Wanna talk about selective programming, when roddick started losing today, in comes chris fowler with a special segment making excuses for him..lololol