As a big pro tennis fan since the mid '90s, I am really disappointed with the lack of any early round coverage of Montreal and Cincinnati. I think I understand why coverage has been cut. ESPN and the Tennis Channel paid tons of money to secure the rights to broadcast all of the Grand Slams, forcing them to cut back on other tournaments. Nonetheless, I still don't like it.
Montreal and Cincinnati are the premier warm-up tournaments for the U.S. Open and deserve to have more than just Thursday-Sunday TV coverage. I fully understand starting the TV coverage on Thursday or Friday at Indy, LA and Washington, but not the Masters tourneys. As everyone knows, there are all sorts of blockbuster early round matches in these events, all of which will go unseen this year. I remember back in the '90s when ESPN would show at least two hours of Cincinnati during the day and then come back for the featured night match -- every day of the tourney. I know that things change, but true fans cannot like this.
Montreal and Cincinnati are the premier warm-up tournaments for the U.S. Open and deserve to have more than just Thursday-Sunday TV coverage. I fully understand starting the TV coverage on Thursday or Friday at Indy, LA and Washington, but not the Masters tourneys. As everyone knows, there are all sorts of blockbuster early round matches in these events, all of which will go unseen this year. I remember back in the '90s when ESPN would show at least two hours of Cincinnati during the day and then come back for the featured night match -- every day of the tourney. I know that things change, but true fans cannot like this.
