Categories
Tennis

NBC sets new low at Wimbledon

NBC did it, again. Congrats, I did not think it was possible.

After providing terrible coverage of Roland Garros, NBC had to one-up itself at Wimbledon.

Sure, I’ll cut NBC some slack for airing matches on tape delay while equally important matches were going on live; I’m used to that by now. If I want to watch something live, that is what justin.tv is for, right?

But what I won’t cut NBC any slack for is its disrespectful coverage of doubles.

Categories
Tennis

Federer and Sampras the most prolific, not greatest, of all-time

Well, he’s the best, the greatest, the champion of all time, the legend. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Let the babbling commence.

NBC couldn’t stress the fact that Federer is the greatest of all time any more than I’m stressing the word “fact.”

Categories
Tennis

Safin-Federer a Tale of Two Matches

There were two tennis matches played late Friday night in Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, and I’m not including Jelena Dokic’s three-set thriller over Caroline Wozniaki.

The marquee match, the rematch, whatever you want to call it, between former world number one Roger Federer and former world number one Marat Safin was both matches: the awful first two sets and the remarkable third one. In the first set, Federer played sloppy-but-consistent while Safin was erratic on nearly ever other point, missing wildly on his serve, backhand, and especially forehand. But the third set was a different breed: a showcase of two of the most talented players of all time playing the type of tennis that at one point rose both to the top.

And if we really want to know all that Friday’s match was about, we need to ignore the first two sets.

Federer jumped out to a quick, devastating two set lead, converting three of his four break chance opportunities and only twice falling behind 15-30 or worse on his serve. Safin never had a break point.

He closed out the first set with a break at love followed by hold at love. He was nearly as dominant in the second set, breaking Safin in Safin’s last two service games.

Those two sets took merely 59 minutes.

And then Safin turned it on.

Categories
Tennis

Tennis Power Rankings – Week 2

Each week, I will rank the top 15 male singles tennis players as I currently see them and give a sentence or two about him. I will also select two players not currently in the top 50 of the ATP Rankings who have the talent to move up and two players in the top 25 of the ATP Rankings that are dropping and dropping fast.

The first week of official ATP events resulted in a few stunning upsets, as Gael Monfils defeated Rafael Nadal in Doha, Qatar, and Ernests Gulbis knocked reigning Australian Open champion and world number three Novak Djokovic in Brisbane, Australia.

Andy Murray beat Roger Federer, again, dropping the first set in a tie-breaker before controlling the final two sets, 6-7, 6-2, 6-2, on his way to the championship at Qatar. It’s reached the point now that if Federer beats Murray on a hard court, I’d consider that an upset.

Two-time NCAA Champion Somdev Devvarman returned to his birth country and made a stunning run to the finals at Chennai. He’ll meet Marin Cilic in Sunday’s final.

The Brisbane final features Radek Stepanek and Fernando Verdasco. Stepanek upset Robin Soderling and Richard Gasquet in three sets each on the way to his first final since last February. It is the first hard court final on the ATP Tour for Verdasco.

And in the star-filled tournament in Qatar, Andy Murray defeated Andy Roddick in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, for his ninth career ATP Tour title. It was his eighth title in past 23 months.

That said, let’s take a look at Sportscolumn.com’s inaugural tennis power rankings.

Categories
Video Games

Video Game Review: Top Spin 3


Tennis is a strange sport for a video game. I think you’d be hard pressed to find 5 people you know who own a console and play tennis competitively. Now, most people don’t play football either but that doesn’t stop Madden from being a juggernaut franchise. The difference though is that everyone watches football while high level tennis television ratings are about equal to the John Deere Classic in golf. Didn’t see it? Don’t worry — nobody else did either.

So why make a game that has no players and no TV audience? Well, because you can actually take your time to make a polished game. Without yearly refreshes and tight deadlines, you can do something like completely revamp your controls and create a game that makes sense. While EA is busy making games for kids on the short bus and your grandmother (All Play!), 2K Sports went the opposite route and made Top Spin 3 harder than ever. So while the learning curve is pretty steep, Top Spin 3 is absolutely worth it.

Categories
Tennis

Roger Federer: A Courageous- Stupid Prediction

Sometimes I keep my mouth shut even when I want to say something. In journalism, you have to. In this case, however, I should have spoken.

Watching the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s singles final, which I wrote was the greatest sporting event I ever had the pleasure to see, I refrained from mentioning my observation that Roger Federer did not want to win the match before the middle of the third set. Yes, I saw it, as painful as it was. Federer clearly did not care for half the match if he won or lost.

Categories
Tennis

Campe

There were some clichés I never thought I would say. Near the top of that list was “both men deserved to win.”

Maybe I didn’t fully understand the implications of such a statement; maybe I thought it couldn’t capture reality; maybe I avoided it because it was a cliché. None of that matters now. After watching the gentlemen’s singles finals at Wimbledon Sunday, there is no saying that has more truth that I have ever come across.

Categories
General Sports

Why We Watch Tennis

How many people can honestly say there isn’t something about tennis that intrigues them? Whether it’s the endless rallies or the power serving, tennis has a little bit of everything for everyone. The British Championship at Wimbledon has also proved that it provides the drama that every sports fan enjoys. With the big guns falling, this years Wimbledon has provided the sports world with one of the greatest opportunities in recent tennis history; a reason to watch.

Categories
All Other Sports

A Question of Class

As an American living overseas, I’m exposed to another perspective of my compatriots.  Although media is supposed to be objective, we all know the reality of humanity and even the most committed and honest reporter will expose their inner feelings in the process of a broadcast.

This applies to sports reporting as well.  Growing up in Northwest Ohio, I could have listened to The Game on two different radio stations and, although the score would be the same, I would likely have a completely different perspective on what was transpiring on the field based on which station I listened to at a particular moment.