What's the point of Super Saturday if.....

[AnotherTennisProdigy]

.....we keep getting the final on monday? If the reasoning is to put the matches during the weekend, isn't it counterproductive when the finals gets pushed to the dreaded M day? Why do they insist on Super Saturday, is there a reason?

 

[sunof tennis]

One word-television.
Deos work out every so often though. See, 1984- its the reason it's called Super Saturday. The greatest day of tennis ever.

 

[Mustard]

1984 was the first Super Saturday, and it was a huge success, with the men's over 35 final (Newcombe vs. Smith), 2 men's semi finals (Lendl vs. Cash, McEnroe vs. Connors) and the women's final (Navratilova vs. Evert), all going to deciding sets.

Since then, none of the others have come close to replicating 1984. I wonder what would have happened had the first (1984) been a dud?

 

[Matt H.]

as a typical monday thru friday worker, i enjoy being able to watch the semi's and finals in full on the weekends.

as a true tennis fan, i kinda hate seeing them have no rest.

 

[smoledman]

1984 was the first Super Saturday, and it was a huge success, with the men's over 35 final (Newcombe vs. Smith), 2 men's semi finals (Lendl vs. Cash, McEnroe vs. Connors) and the women's final (Navratilova vs. Evert), all going to deciding sets.

Since then, none of the others have come close to replicating 1984. I wonder what would have happened had the first (1984) been a dud?

Yet they continue this greedy experiment which leads to horrible tennis.

 

[jokinla]

Supposedly this is the last year of Super Saturday.

 

[AnotherTennisProdigy]

But if you think about it, Super Saturday degrades the final a little. Less time to rest means a higher chance of having the player tired for the final. Also, wouldn't a monday final mean less viewers, which is counter productive.

 

[jaggy]

Most of americas watching stupid college football anyway on Saturday

 

[UltimateBombero]

One word-television.
Deos work out every so often though. See, 1984- its the reason it's called Super Saturday. The greatest day of tennis ever.

If we have to wait 28 years to see it "work out", then it's not worth it.

 

[tacou]

Super Saturday leading to tired legs on Sunday is one thing, but it has nothing to do with Monday finals. If it rains on Sunday you got to play on Monday.

 

[Nuke]

If they moved the USO up one week, they could have the final on the Labor Day Monday holiday, and thus still get "weekend" TV ratings in the USA. This would also solve the current problem with the mens finals competing with the opening week NFL football games.

 

[West Coast Ace]

If they moved the USO up one week, they could have the final on the Labor Day Monday holiday, and thus still get "weekend" TV ratings in the USA. This would also solve the current problem with the mens finals competing with the opening week NFL football games.

+1000. Winston-Salem/New Haven are useless.

If you run for president of the USTA you have my vote -unless you expect the Arlen Kantarian $9 mil/yr. $400k, tops.

 

[Nuke]

I could get by on $400k.

 

[Sentinel]

If they moved the USO up one week, they could have the final on the Labor Day Monday holiday, and thus still get "weekend" TV ratings in the USA. This would also solve the current problem with the mens finals competing with the opening week NFL football games.

Are you moving forward one week ? In which case you reduce time between Cinci and the USO, no ?

Isn't the USO timing also dependent on other things like NASCAR/F1/Golf or other sports ???

 

[ollinger]

When someone posts about reducing the men's matches to three sets, the chorus chimes in that five sets is better because it rewards better conditioning. But mention semis on Saturday and finals on Sunday and suddenly it's unfair because of "tired legs." What happened to rewarding better conditioning?? I've watched plenty of men's finals and nobody ever looks particularly tired.

 

[Nuke]

Isn't the USO timing also dependent on other things like NASCAR/F1/Golf or other sports ???

Well, the USO folks obviously think they can go toe-to-toe with the opening week NFL Sunday games, so I don't think those other sports are going to be that big a deal if they went a week earlier. Just another NASCAR race on Labor Day weekend, like every other NASCAR race for ten months of the year. The Deutsche Bank Championship for the golfers. These are nothing compared with programming against the first regular-season games of the NFL season, as the USO does. How many more TV viewers might they get if the USO finals were this weekend instead of next weekend?