The Tennis Thread

[Soapsuds]

These overnight finals are atrocious. Thus the low ratings. Commentators were saying during the match how bad it is that finals are overnight in the states because a lot of tennis fans were missing the match.

Jannik Sinner’s comeback win over Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open men’s final averaged a 0.37 and 528,000 viewers on ESPN, up from a three-set Novak Djokovic-Stefanos Tsitsipas match last year (439K).

Edited January 30, 2024 by Soapsuds

[DramatistDreamer]

ESPN is reaping what they have sowed. They have been alienating tennis fans for years, making tennis less accessible with their bogus ESPN+ platform (why relegate every match to ESPN+?) and they have been underinvesting in tennis for years now, despite vacuuming up the broadcast and streaming rights to 3 out of 4 of the majors.
Most of today’s newest tennis “stars” don’t have the personality to get eyes in front of the screen past 8pm EST, let alone 3am. The time is set by Tennis Australia, so ESPN has no control over that but ESPN should be making streaming as readily available and accessible as they do their NBA games, in order to try to hook fans on the newest generation of players. The ITF and the entire alphabet soup of organizations need to start over with making this sport more accessible and appealing to a viewing audience. ESPN shouldn’t be allowed to have exclusive rights to streaming of the majors, neither should the Tennis Channel for that matter. USTA should take back the rights and put it back on their website, and just add commercials and run occasional ads at the bottom of the screen during matches. The All England Club and the FFT should do the same. Any viewers outside of that particular nation could pay a fee to stream a universal feed for the two weeks (with a choice of with or without commentary)

The Tennis powers that be need to come up with some innovations before they decide to sell the sport to kingdom of Saudi Arabia, lock, stock and barrel.

[Soapsuds]

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[DramatistDreamer]

That’s interesting @Soapsuds. Coaching changes come at you fast, especially on the WTA side. I don’t know if it’s true that Witt expressed surprise but hey, it happens. Witt can be a good coach but there were years when I thought that Venus kept him on for too long and felt it cost her (although I realized that her Sjogrens really had her grasping for stability and consistency because the effects of the disease itself can be so unpredictable) but Witt’s publicly whining about certain aspects that were directly related to her autoimmune disease had me wishing she would have found another coach. I guess Pegula doesn’t intend to wait that long, she obviously wants a change.

[Soapsuds]

That did not last.

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Coric was beating him and he faked an injury and got booed off the court by the fans in attendance.

 

[DramatistDreamer]

@Soapsuds^^ Wow! Just last week, I read that Rune had let his other coach go and even the writers of the article assumed that Becker would remain Rune’s sole coach after that. I guess that is no longer the case. Both Rune and Ruud received a lot of hype. They’re still young but it makes me wonder where both Scandinavian players’ prospects lie ahead.

Usually these type of coaching moves happen in the off-season. I think with Pegula turning 30 at the end of this month, it’s probably easy to figure out her motives for drastic changes. Rune, maybe this is just the way he’s built?

[DramatistDreamer]

So, Steffi and Andre are more likely to be found on a pickleball court than a tennis court these days. 

https://www.tennis.com/baseline/articles/photos-graf-agassi-defeat-mcenroe-sharapova-1-million-at-pickleball-slam-2

[Soapsuds]

Pfft..

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Other former players are doing pickleball too.

[DramatistDreamer]

If we see Monica, Serena and Jennifer Capriati on the pickleball court, just say “Good Night” to the WTA.

[Soapsuds]

@DramatistDreamer

Maybe I was wrong about not liking pickle ball.

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[DramatistDreamer]

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 @Soapsuds. Some of the players had better show some skin becoming they play on its own is not enough to hold my attention.

One to think of it, maybe the ATP should consider this too since the Tours are at a lull these days.

[Soapsuds]

https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/holger-rune-rehires-patrick-mouratoglou-replace-boris-becker-head-coach?fbclid=IwAR0hMA8RFnsd0qHlh7imr3unsgiOo3kvOsU7IAU9ZubrI1Ax3DJcTNMlJ8w

[Soapsuds]

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[DramatistDreamer]

The ITF/ATP/WTA need to have some training intensive sessions for chair umpires as it seems as if some don’t have full grasp of basic rules. Even if they were in the right, they fail to lower the temperature with players simply because they don’t know how.

Alcaraz and his physical issues seem at bit concerning. I wonder if his style of play is accelerating the types of health issues that took years for Rafa to develop. I am getting a similar feeling that I got with Andreescu years ago, just after she won the U.S. Open.

[Faulkner]

Rublev got DQ’d from his semi in Dubai semi against Bublik for screaming in a line official’s face:

 

Edited March 1, 2024 by Faulkner