You may not have noticed, but on Monday night, 3000+ fans witnessed a new NCAA men’s tennis champion. The UCLA Bruins were crowned the 2005 champs, Monday at the Mitchell tennis complex at Texas A&M, in a ferocious battle that left opponent, and former champion Baylor dazed and confused.As usual, the tennis fan at home was not well cared for, being that aired at noon on a Tuesday. Plus the only reason I had the opportunity to watch the tourney was because I was stuck at home with a viral eye infection. Instead of complaining about the lack of tennis coverage on television (I’ll get to that later), I’ll leave it at this: I am just grateful I got to see some college tennis, an NCAA sport that is… let’s say, somewhat ignored.
Before I go any further let me explain to you the scoring format of NCAA men’s tennis:
There are three doubles teams, and six singles players. Each doubles team / singles player plays one best-of-three match. The first school to reach a total of four points wins. Doubles wins are worth one point every two matches won. Singles points are a little more straightforward, one point for every match won.
The doubles teams go on first, and later the singles take the court for the “main event”. And it truly was.
Baylor started off with two doubles wins, which gave them one point. Going into the singles round, also the televised round, Baylor had a 1-0 lead.
When the singles came so did the crowds, and they witnessed a stunning #1 match that included up-and-coming prospect form Baylor, Benedikt Dorsch.
Some of the other captivating matches were: Philipp Gruendler of UCLA edging out Vladimir Portnov 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4 tiebreak). Alberto Francis beat Matija Zgaga 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
Perhaps the most electrifying performance of the entire tournament, and definitely the most exciting of the night was the #6 (a.k.a. the worst spot on the team) UCLA senior Kris Kwinta’s epic three set championship-clinching match. He defeated Baylor freshman Lars Poerschke 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
It was a true display of the underdog proving the critics wrong. This was such an exciting and somewhat emotional match, which ended in myself jumping in the air and doing a Michael Jordan fist pump… don’t ask.
It is this exact reason, which makes me wonder why tennis is still not considered a mainstream sport. I understand that basketball, and baseball are more exciting, and appealing to Americans, but tennis is an amazing sport to watch live, and on television.
It is odd how I always find myself complaining about how tennis is poorly televised. It took UCLA’s championship appearance for them to air on T.V. It amuses me how Fox Sports West can televise professional darts, but not the hometown collegiate tennis team.
And if you think the television coverage is bad, open up the newspaper that is delivered to my house daily. You see, the newspaper we get is the San Bernardino County Sun. The Key word is San Bernardino; San Bernardino County isn’t exactly the most tennis friendly area. Blame it on the 105-degree summer heat.
It seems as if tennis isn’t really accepted around here. We are in the thick of the French Open and there has not been a single article or feature on anything that has to do with tennis. The French Open gets a “scoreboard” column, about 3 inches long.
The biggest article on tennis in our newspaper was a late-April feature on the high school three-team battle for 1st place in the citrus belt league. You get the point.
I have had the opportunity to vacation in San Diego for the last few summers, and I was so surprised by the fact that the San Diego Union-Tribune had an entire two-page spread on tennis during Wimbledon. Wouldn’t it be nice?
However, I must say that ESPN’s coverage of the French Open is getting a lot better than even a year ago. We saw 9 full hours a day during week one and 8 full hours during the first three days of week two. I must say, it makes a sick day a little more interesting.
All in all, America is coming to its senses regarding the sport of tennis in general. Serena Williams is already a pop-culture icon, from endorsements to fashion; Serena is all over the place.
Andy Roddick was named one of 2004’s sexiest men, which is bringing some females into the viewing spectrum.
In closing, I would like to say that America, while still lacking some gusto in televised tennis, is vastly improving in the viewer friendliness in the game that some love, and some just don’t care about.