French OPen classic on The Tennis Channel....

J

Jonas

Semi-Pro
starting on Monday The Tennis Channel will air classic french open matches every night.
I am wanting to know if Direct tv is still going to carry a free preview of the French Open.
I have emailed direct tv and TTC and have gotten no response.
Anybody have anything concrete concerning this matter?
I would REALLY LIKE TO SEE THOSE CLASSIC FO MATCHES!
 
are you sure about this? according to the website they are showing old highlight shows of the French, but I don't see any matches listed.
 
I quit recently the Directv and switched to Dish network just becouse of Tennis channel (e-mailed DTV a few times about T.C., no response).
 
today they are showing these on TTC:

Roland Garros Highlights : 2002
Roland Garros Highlights : 2004
Roland Garros Highlights : 2005

tomorrow:

Roland Garros Highlights : 1994
Roland Garros Highlights : 1995
Roland Garros Highlights : 1996
 
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tenis said:
I quit recently the Directv and switched to Dish network just becouse of Tennis channel (e-mailed DTV a few times about T.C., no response).
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hehe, directv will have multiple court coverage from the French plus tennis channel coming next fall.
 
Moose Malloy said:
today they are showing these on TTC:

Roland Garros Highlights : 2002
Roland Garros Highlights : 2004
Roland Garros Highlights : 2005

tomorrow:

Roland Garros Highlights : 1994
Roland Garros Highlights : 1995
Roland Garros Highlights : 1996
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moose, just wanted to say the info you always provide is much appreciated. Thanks!
 
I read an article that the DirecTV will not only be having multi court coverage of the French, but that they will have TTC by fall.

And when I email them, they disavow all knowledge of either event. Anyone know what's going on?
 
That JCF vs Costa final brought back some memories. I'd nearly forgotten how poorly JCF played thru two sets. Total deer in headlights. Almost a complete "Richie Tennenbaum" if you know what I mean.
 
Roland Garros Highlights : 1994
Roland Garros Highlights : 1995
Roland Garros Highlights : 1996
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Just a correction, they will be showing the '99 highlights tonight, not the '96.

All those Berasategui fans should tune in tonight, he made the final in '94.
 
Moose Malloy said:
Just a correction, they will be showing the '99 highlights tonight, not the '96.

All those Berasategui fans should tune in tonight, he made the final in '94.
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Yeah, but he didn't play so hot in that final. Both he and Bruguera were pretty conservative for the first two sets I thought, timid and playing not to lose. Berasategui found his range in the third and opened up, Bruguera then tanked the rest of the third, then in the fourth finally loosened up and then Berasategui folded. Was a really ho-hum match for two sets, then the last two when one of them finally opened up and caught fire, the other one kind of just went away, so it put a damper on things. I mean for example is it really tennis when say Medevedev's playing lights out in the first two sets against Agassi in the finals, but the other guy's wetting his pants because he's so nervous?

I will say this, however, I really hope they show the point from mid-early part of the third. Bruguera flies cross court for a running forehand, then two-handed backhand pass sequence. Shows how explosive both his racket head speed and foot speed could be when he let loose.

What I don't think I could bear to see is his 95 loss to ol' Changer...lol, been avoiding that one for years even though against any other player but Bruguera, I'd usually root for Chang. Would kill though to get his 97 defeat of Chang at the French, but have never seen any record of anyone having that match on tape, and I'm not even sure if it was broadcast in the states either.
 
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Would kill though to get his 97 defeat of Chang at the French, but have never seen any record of anyone having that match on tape, and I'm not even sure if it was broadcast in the states either.
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I saw it, it was broadcast on USA(I think Chang losing was sort of a big deal, in that it was the first time in the Open Era an American didn't reach the FO qfs) Didn't record it though.
 
Do you have any other sources? I've tried that Italian source, but some of the matches, the quality of the feed was just like watching tennis on Mars, the colors were so washed out and the sound so bad, like watching tennis under water, everything slurred.

I just don't think it's possible to get say Bruguera-Rafter Wimbledon 94 even though it was considered by many to have been the match of the tournament.
 
Also, have you ever seen the Arazi-Rios 97 French match? Supposedly, Arazi played so well that he made Rios look like a little school girl or something. Rios and Mac were like if he plays like that no one will beat him and making him out to be the next coming or something after it, well, Mac at least.
 
Moose Malloy said:
here is the schedule for today:

4 pst Roland Garros Classic Match : 1986 Final: Evert/Navratilova

7 pst Roland Garros Classic Match : 1983 Final: Noah vs. Wilander

tomorrow:

Roland Garros Highlights : 1997
Roland Garros Highlights : 2000
Roland Garros Highlights : 2001

http://www.thetennischannel.com/schedule/index.aspx
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Wow, Noah vs. Wilander. I always wanted to see the ending to that match. It's one of the most emotional and dramatic, spontaneous celebrations I've ever seen at the end of a tennis match, that and the Cash Wimbledon ending as well, along with Agassi's Wimbledon. Like something from Rocky. Hope the match was actually high quality as well.
 
!Tym said:
What I don't think I could bear to see is his 95 loss to ol' Changer...lol, been avoiding that one for years even though against any other player but Bruguera, I'd usually root for Chang. Would kill though to get his 97 defeat of Chang at the French, but have never seen any record of anyone having that match on tape, and I'm not even sure if it was broadcast in the states either.
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Bruguera-Chang 97 French match is available for purchase over here:

http://es.geocities.com/mikatxu2003/

It's a Spanish site.
 
I saw that Rios/Arazi match and it was awesome (on tape of course).
Way off topic, but does anyone have any of the matches from the 1999 Indian Wells event (where moya got to #1)??
I have some matches and would love to trade for a couple from that tournament.
thanks, jwhtennis777@yahoo.com
 
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Is this 86 FO final between Martina and Chris like in slooooooooooooow-moooooooooooooooooootion? Big ups to Monica Seles for killing this kinda match. More pace, more grunts, more drama
 
anyone watch Mac-Lendl? they showed it in its entirety, even the post match interviews(Mac refused to address the crowd during the ceremony) Great match, great drama, truly deserving of 'classic' status. they are repeating it tomorrow as well.

today they are showing:

Roland Garros Highlights : 1993
Roland Garros Highlights : 1998

next week:

Roland Garros Classic Match : 1987 Final: Graf v Navratilova
Roland Garros Classic Match : 1991 Final: Courier vs. Agassi
 
^^^Yeah, I saw it last night. Great stuff!

I especially enjoyed when they showed the points form ground level behind the server. Mcenroe had one helluva a kicker.

Do you know what day they are showing the Agassi/Courier match?
 
drakulie said:
^^^Yeah, I saw it last night. Great stuff!

I especially enjoyed when they showed the points form ground level behind the server. Mcenroe had one helluva a kicker.

Do you know what day they are showing the Agassi/Courier match?
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Monday April 30th at 10 pm edt
 
Moose Malloy said:
today they are showing these on TTC:

Roland Garros Highlights : 2002
Roland Garros Highlights : 2004
Roland Garros Highlights : 2005

tomorrow:

Roland Garros Highlights : 1994
Roland Garros Highlights : 1995
Roland Garros Highlights : 1996
Click to expand...

I have TTC and last night they played the entire Hingis-Graf 1999 match and the entire McEnroe-Lendl 1984 match as well.
 
drakulie, did you stay up till 3 am to watch the match last night? It was aired over a 5 hour time slot on TTC, 10 est to 3.
I dvred it, I got tired around the 5th set(& I'm in the west coast)
 
^^^yeah, I stayed up. I am working nights right now so I have mornings off, which is why I was able to watch the whole thing. I devoed (spelling) it too. Watched the beginning, then fast forwarded the commercials until I was watching it in real time.

That was/is such a classic match. It always surprises me how much topspin Lendl generated.
 
I didn't mean to watch the whole match but ended up watching it till the end.
Still amazed with the way McEnroe plays.
Gives me big hopes on my lousy volleying style.
 
Moose Malloy said:
anyone watch Mac-Lendl? they showed it in its entirety, even the post match interviews(Mac refused to address the crowd during the ceremony) Great match, great drama, truly deserving of 'classic' status. they are repeating it tomorrow as well.
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Wanted to but was too busy, stressed out to watch only but bits and pieces on and off.

Have to say though, the one thing this match proves is how important good SOUND is to the impression of pace.

Lendl and McEnroe, despite never being what could be considered a power house in any era ever, despite using archaic rackets, despite wearing, really, REALLY tight and constricting shorts; the amazing thing is that the match still "felt" relatively modern to me because the sound was very *crisp* and clear and the colors weren't all washed out, that whole bad Eurosport PAL feed to NTSC transfer type feeling.

The one thing I've noted about watching old matches, is that if the sound is washed out, the matches feels incredibly outdated, if it's not, it actually SEEMS surprisingly modern .
 
despite wearing, really, REALLY tight and constricting shorts
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lol. I actually think those outfits make the players look more athletic(mac had some surprinsingly strong looking legs for a scrawny dude) When Federer & co. wear baggy shorts, they look like children with no muscles at all.

The one thing I've noted about watching old matches, is that if the sound is washed out, the matches feels incredibly outdated, if it's not, it actually SEEMS surprisingly modern .
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Yeah, I agree. I have 2 copies of the Borg-Mac W final, the one with better sound makes it sound like they are hitting so much harder than the other one.
Tennis is ultimately a hitting game, sound it more important than any factor in judging how hard the ball is it(isn't that why they require silence anyway, so the opponent can judge the spin/pace?)

Hope TTC replays it again, listing ended at 1am, and so did my DVR recording.
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its on tomorrow at 8am pst. 5 hour time slot. check the website for other airings. Its musch better to view on dvr, the commercial breaks are pretty long.
 
Tight clothing rules.

Compare what Borg used to wear to what Gasquet wears today and don't tell me that Borg didn't look cool. Gasquet, conversely, looks like a toddler wearing his older brother's outfit.
 
The old clothes really aren't restrictive at all. Much of it was very stretchy. If you think about it, Nadal wears stuff over his knees. This would seem much more restrictive.

Trust me, I wear the old Fila/Tacchini stuff on court whenever I play. It works just fine. Plus you get a better tan.
 
The Gorilla said:
^^
Lendl wasn't a powerhouse?

what?
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Typo, no I meant, MCENROE, despite never being considered a powerhouse...

Lendl, of course, was "the truth" as Snoop Dog once said. Another analogy that works for me, Lendl reminds me of Mirko "Crocop," just his general body type, look, and feel, the dry smirk, the way the move, the way Lendl was a striking machine who absolutely bludgeoned the ball at incoming rushers, call him a headhunter if you will, and well, you know what Crocop likes to do too...
 
i gotta say, i've been getting a real kick out of watching the old matches. from a time when tennis players looked like tennis players. now, the guys look like they are on the way to play some full-court basketball and the gals . . . well, don't even get me started on them.

i'm having a laugh pointing out all the stuff that doesn't even EXIST anymore: tennis clothing lines, racquet companies, net cord judges . . .
 
I look forward to hearing people explain how the slower speed of play is just an illusion, mostly the result of inferior court mics. ;)
 
35ft6 said:
I look forward to hearing people explain how the slower speed of play is just an illusion, mostly the result of inferior court mics. ;)
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Well, look at the racket Lendl used. That says a lot. I've seen him just dismantle young Agassi swinging from the hips once he dialed in. The guy wasn't as flashy as Sampras' running forehand, but his method of generating power was much the same. A hard flat, ball hitter, using a meatloaf cleaver for power. Their stroking technique is actually very similar.

Lendl owned Courier, Agassi, I believe even Stich at the tail end of his career when his lower back was wrecking him. That's pretty good all things considered.

I mean it's really amazing how clean and hard he could strike the ball with the racket he used, I mean seriously the racket head looks the size of a pea, the size of the tennis ball pracitcally. That's the closest to the Prince "God" racket I've seen in "modern" tennis.
 
Also, it really IS in many cases. If you saw the copy I have of Bruguera-Leconte from the 93 French or Bruguera-Stich from the 96 US Open, you would not believe how HUGE a difference the quality of the broadcast feed makes. It's absolutely GINORMOUS. The sound is sooo washed out and the colors so Martian like, that literally not a SINGLE ball hit in two entire matches gives you any impression of real, LIVE, feeling "pace" whatsoever.

NOT ONE. It literally makes that huge a difference, even when you see one of these guys wind up fully and let loose so you know they just hit it hard, you NEVER can actually FEEL it. I have a tape of Bruguera-Federer, same thing, washed out sound, makes it seem and sound like you could just be watching two 5'6" club 5.5 hackers at your local rec courts hitting just as well and hard, as these two 6'1-3" pros.
 
look forward to hearing people explain how the slower speed of play is just an illusion, mostly the result of inferior court mics.
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Considering you've said that tennis on tv is poor in conveying the athleticism because of the the angles used, not sure why you would think this is far-fetched. The camera angles were even worse in many matches from the 70s/80s, like they were shot from the roof.

If you get copies of the BBC & NBC versions of the Borg-Mac '80 W final(I can refer you to sellers if you care), it should be pretty obvious to anyone that sound is important as well as camera angles(the BBC didn't have any ground level cameras or on court mics, but NBC did) A santoro slice forehand sounds harder hit today than a lendl or borg forehand in some of the matches I have, because there were no on court mics in many matches. Unless you think slice forehands are hit harder today because of the improved athleticism?

Believe what you want, I have hundreds of old matches on tape/dvd, many in which it seems so slow & many with the same players that seem to be of a much faster pace. If a match has poor sound, its hard to get into it. I bought some Federer matches from Doha last year(a french feed with soft sound) that are hard to watch, it just feels so flat without good sound.
 
Definitely agree with Moose. The sound quality and clarity makes a huge difference. As does the camera angle.

I hate those old matches where the camera angle is from what seems like the Good Year Blimp.
 
How about the difference between gut and polyester in terms of
sound charateristics ? (I mean this is sound of gut in 80's
and now is sound of polyester...)

By the way, one of the things I enjoy playing indoor is the ample
sound I hear from "my" hitting.

I'm now in sunny california and virtually no indoor courts...
 
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TTC showed the 1984 Men's Final in it's entirety. It was almost 5 hours. It was absolute hell having to listen to Dick-Head Enberg & Butthead Collins calling this match. I remember watching this match live as a child and the match was very different from what I remember. It was a very competitive match even though Lendl dropped the 1st two sets. I don't think Mac choked like so many have said. He wasn't as aggressive in the 3rd, 4th & 5th sets as he was in the 1st two sets. Lendl's numbers were better than Mac's even though he lost the 1st two sets. Lendl's 1st serve percentage was significantly higher and he was making fewer unforced errors throughout the whole match. McEnroe was very aggressive in the 1st two sets coming to the net every chance he got. Credit Lendl for not letting down after he dropped the 1st two sets.
 
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Tschoky, i saw the match 2 years ago again on German television, and had exactly the same feelings. It was a close match from the beginning to the end. I saw in 1984 the Mac-Lendl match at the WTC, 7 days before RG began, it it was a lot easier for Mac from the very beginning.In the Evans book on Mac, it is stated, that Mac suffered a sunstroke or something (its absurd, because Mac won Queens just a week later), or lost his temper because of the photographers. In reality, Lend simply held up the pressure, and as so often in long clay matches, resilience came through. It was not that big turnaround: Mac fighted and played well until the end, and even the last sets were close and tight.
 
Incredible that FO final loss was one of just three that year. Lost to Vijay Armitraj in 1st round of Cincy but not sure of the other loss.
 
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