Unbelievably bad ESPN coverage

[Shaolin]

This is unreal. I thought ESPN was finally going to clean up its act and this years coverage is as bad or worse than ever.

First they they show the Venus match twice, then the Hewitt match twice, then replay the Roddick match today for the second time, and now its Cljisters vs Whoever.

They have almost completely ignored Federer, only showing a few highlights today vs Mayer. We have a world #1 player who has every shot and will probably go down as the best player ever and they dont even show his matches once. Pathetic coverage by ESPN.

 

[akj27]

I Agree, I Have Been Saying This All Along, I Think This Is ********

 

[oscar_2424]

the worse part is that they also have the rights for roland garros and wimbledon!!

 

[d12agonxboi]

OMG how can they not show the 5 set matches like Hrbaty. Why are they showing stupid people at the food court? they talk way too much rather then showing matches

 

[akj27]

Now Theyre Showing Mauresmo ****ing Awesome

 

[Oricus]

I swear this is a women's event

 

[Babblelot]

OMG how can they not show the 5 set matches like Hrbaty. Why are they showing stupid people at the food court? they talk way too much rather then showing matches

So pathetic I'm posting rather than watching. Carillo says, "Well, this (Clijsters) match isn't very good, but it's the kind she needs because she hasn't had to work hard...Oh! Look here, Hrbaty up 2 sets to love now in the 5th set with Dick Norman!"

Classic ESPN, classic.

 

[Slazenger]

What a bunch of cry-babies. Call/email/bombard ESPN and let THEM know!! What good is it writing it here???

 

[akj27]

I just want to get it off my chest

 

[oscar_2424]

I am praying for Ferrero's match, i hope they put it at least 20 minutes

 

[Alexandros]

Honestly, don't bother whining here unless you've written at the very least an email to ESPN complaining.

 

[PureCarlosMoyaDrive]

If I actually wanted to, I could probably watch every single womans player in the top 10 play against some random new asian player this week.

I've seen 3 mens matches, Hewitt vs. Vik, and both of Roddick's. So bad, one set of blake's as well.

I mean, what is this? It's mainly because they don't have Aggasi or Safin, and so they've just given up on the males because all they have is Roddick, Hewitt, and Fed (but apparently he's not important to this tourney and the only competitors for the title are Huey and A-Rod), wtf.

And is it true that Sharapova and Roddick are "dating?"

Not a smart move at all by him, she is such a conceited and dull girl

 

[tennissavy]

Espn already announced that the federer match will be shown tomorrow afternoon so they should be showing Pierce's match right now since it is going on live and she is in trouble. That's disgusting.

 

[Andy Hewitt]

I dunno about your CBS picture quality but I am glad they only get 1/2 a slam... the quality here on all TVs is blurry as hell from houses I've been to. Ill stick with ESPN.

 

[Oricus]

My problem with cbs's coverage such as wimbledon. They start coverage lets say 10AM eastern, so you assume that 9am central. Well no they decide to also start their coverage at 10am central showing you an hour delay. Always found it stupid

 

[Andy Hewitt]

My problem with cbs's coverage such as wimbledon. They start coverage lets say 10AM eastern, so you assume that 9am central. Well no they decide to also start their coverage at 10am central showing you an hour delay. Always found it stupid

US Open...

 

[ian mercier]

yep, I dropped ESPN a line on this...couldn't help it. This has to be the worst coverage I've seen from them. If I see Davenport one more time, I'm going to lose it (and I like her). No Federer...that's what I don't get??? They'd rather show Hewitt? Great player but he's not the most popular by a long shot.

So far, the good spots have been the Blake match, the 10 minutes of Haas vs. Gasquet, the Venus match (it was exciting, I must admit)...is that it? I think that's it.

 

[Babblelot]

What a bunch of cry-babies. Call/email/bombard ESPN and let THEM know!! What good is it writing it here???

I have--I even attached several links from various tennis mb's berating their coverage. Airing our grievences here does serve a purpose, di1do.

 

[oscar_2424]

maybe all this complains will help to have a better coverage on the next grand slam

 

[Shyyre]

i don't really mind some of their decisions involving showing players that *they* think will garner a bigger audience, but they really should not replay all the time... if you are really interested in these matches (like i am) then you would tape them (like i am)... but then i realize that they are showing in the afternoon what i taped in the middle fo the night... what's the point.

btw, i don't think that wimbledon last year was as bad as this, maybe it something more to do with the time difference? i don't know...

and yes, i'm tired of watching davenport as well... what's the point in watching her cream someone all the i time. imo what they should be doing is playing the marquis matches live at night and if you want to tape them then go ahead, but since you know the outcomes, then the nexzt afternoon you should show the most exciting matches that were taped the previous evening, not replay smoe ass whooping that is boring and comes as no surprise anyway...

 

[@wright]

Don't worry, it will get better as the matches get tougher. Last year they were showing every Federer match, which I like, but this tournament they are not because they have been routine 3 setters for him so far. We might see Federer/Mirnyi, or we definitely will see Federer/Haas. I'm looking forward to Roddick/Baghdatis, if that happens.

 

[Journeyman]

What!? There are men playing at the AO!? I haven't seen them...

 

[vkartikv]

Through a distant contact who knows someone working in ESPN marketing, I have managed to gather this:

People have had enough of watching Federer's matches since they are so one-sided (even though people like us would love to watch more) and there is a big demand for women's matches (I dont know who watches them) which is why espn is focusing on women's matches this time. Most of these people are not too 'into' tennis so they do not realise the depth of men's tennis and hence prefer to watch women's where there is much more competition, albeit the quality of shotmaking is poor..

Only one positive thing out of all this - perhaps ESPN really does listen to its audience and acts accordingly to please them. Now who are these people who get to watch their chouice, I dont know....

 

[Journeyman]

I don't know who they are but whoever is watching reruns of a venus match is sick in the head

 

[akj27]

whoever they are, they need to be shot in the head

 

[Brettolius]

What a bunch of cry-babies. Call/email/bombard ESPN and let THEM know!! What good is it writing it here???

Great post, Chode! How long have been here? This is something that happens every slam, alot of people do email ESPN. So what was the purpose of calling everyone crybabies when they are posting about a very relevant situation? Why not read it, dismiss it, and move on. Who the hell are you again?

BTW, this is definitely a step or ten backwards for ESPN coverage, and not only that,we have BEEG in a blazer, with a little hanky in his breast pocket. Take him back to c-ourtsi-de coverage.

 

[Dan007]

I swear this is a women's event

This is what I've been saying in the other threads!!!!

 

[ty slothrop]

Fellas, check out the threads on streaming AO coverage, it's the answer to all of your problems. I don't even have television service in my house, yet I have seen all of Fed's matches.

Star Sports shows all matches from RLA, and as a bonus you get the mellow Australian TV announcers. No more bullchit from P-Smack and Brad Gilbert.

Leave ESPN in the 20th century

 

[Ronaldo]

Ty, you got it. Watch the 1st 3-4 hrs on Star Sports, rest on ESPN.

 

[akj27]

wtf is star sports? what channel is it

 

[rilokiley]

It's an Asian channel. You can watch it via streaming

 

[Dan007]

ESPN dumb@$$es are ruining the whole Australian Open for people that are watching on T.V.

 

[VGP]

WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

crybabies.

 

[rilokiley]

I blame Bush.

 

[barry]

I dunno about your CBS picture quality but I am glad they only get 1/2 a slam... the quality here on all TVs is blurry as hell from houses I've been to. Ill stick with ESPN.

I had that problem with the local cable company and switched to Dish. The local channel are digital and my projection 76" screen is very clear. Only thing I do when watching ESPN is put it in wide screen, eliminates the ticker tape, and mute to eliminate Mac.
ESPN coverage sucks! ESPN should stick with street ball, or cold pIzza, but not tennis, they are lacking!

 

[PureCarlosMoyaDrive]

Please link me to the Star Sports website, please tell me it's free, and please tell me that the quality is good enough to see the ball (BBC's queens coverage, although nice, isn't quite good enough).

And also, whats up with the mustard yellow wilsons eh?

 

[dmastous]

....and what's all this drivel about the heat down under? Is this the first AO that was ever hot????

 

[VGP]

The heat has always been a problem at the AO. It was a relatively recent change to have the 10 minute time outs and closing the roof.

I remember in the early ninties that it was so hot that the Rebound Ace surface got rubbery and there was a rash of sprained ankle injuries.

 

[ty slothrop]

Please link me to the Star Sports website, please tell me it's free, and please tell me that the quality is good enough to see the ball (BBC's queens coverage, although nice, isn't quite good enough).

And also, whats up with the mustard yellow wilsons eh?

PCMD, go to www.t e n n i s d v d . o r g

from there just follow the instructions to download Mysee, which pops up Star Sports into windows media player. Awesome quality, they show every match on Laver. I don't even have TV service in my house anymore, but I have watched more AO this year than ever before

 

[tonysk83]

I agree with everyone else, they didn't show the gasquet vs haas match except for a few minutes which pissed me off. And I turn it on just now and I see Hingis playing, she is a great player but I really just want to see some men play.

 

[Docalex007]

I feel really sorry for you guys, I really do.

I know what you all are going through as I watched the AO last year in the US. Over here, Eurosport does an excellent job at showing all the matches with top seeds in it....and LIVE!.

So far I have seen ALL of the Federer matches, All of Haas' matches, All of Roddick's matches, All of Hingis' matches, Sharapova, Venus and Serena, Nalbandian twice, Davenport three times, Ginepri twice, Ljubicic, Monfils day one, Hewitt and Chela, Coria twice.

...Plus many more where they showed interesting parts such as set points, etc.

I just want to say, I love you Eurosport!

 

[VGP]

Docalex007 - Don't you have a job or something?

 

[Docalex007]

Docalex007 - Don't you have a job or something?

Yes, I do. However, all those matches took place between 1am and 5am and therefore have not affected my work schedule - which I start work at 3pm.

BTW, I'm a student.

I figured I can be a walking zombie for a week or two to watch the Open.

 

[VGP]

You're a student. That works. I remember those days. Have fun while it lasts. But I'm sure you know this.

 

[Grigollif1]

You're a student. That works. I remember those days. Have fun while it lasts. But I'm sure you know this.

VGP Do you work for Espn or something?? You have defended them in every thread... I work and go to college and I think watching about 4 Hours of quality men's tennis matches on a grand slam is not too much to ask. So far with this ESPN coverage in the U.S I only see Women's matches.....

 

[VGP]

No. I don't work for ESPN.

I'm not defending ESPN, per se, even the way ESPN covers tennis now is still better that it was ten years ago.

Tennis in the US got a boost with the resurgence of American tennis in the 90's.

Compared to other countries and with TTC, ESPN's coverage isn't as good, BUT it's better than it was.

When another poster mentioned that they heard from their friend who knew someone at ESPN (reminds me of Kristy Swanson in Ferris Beuller) that viewers want to see more women's matches, I was thinking about it today and since they are coming live from Sydney, it matches up with the women's matches being on the show courts. Plus many of the women are more marketable than the men, also some might find them better to look at, and the matches are shorter. Plus on the men's side, it's still turning out to be "who's gonna play Federer in the finals."

As for what I do, it has very little to do with tennis.

 

[tennissavy]

VGP Do you work for Espn or something?? You have defended them in every thread... I work and go to college and I think watching about 4 Hours of quality men's tennis matches on a grand slam is not too much to ask. So far with this ESPN coverage in the U.S I only see Women's matches.....

Really, it's been only Hingis tonight for the WTA. The other matches have been ATP so you have no reason to complain.

 

[rilokiley]

another college student here. I stayed up all night watching tennis and then went to work at 9. I could hardly understand wtf my boss was telling me.

 

[Docalex007]

another college student here. I stayed up all night watching tennis and then went to work at 9. I could hardly understand wtf my boss was telling me.

LMAO. Great post from a fellow hardcore tennis fan.

 

[pound cat]

ESPN live showed Hingis (complete) 2 full sets of Kiefer, and closing sets of Hrbaty & Haas. 4 hours of tennis at a time is enough for me . And to-night Roddick/Baghdatis live.