[Andrew1]

Once again we have seen an American tennis player throw a disgusting tantrum on the tennis court, insulting and denigrating line officials, and, of course, getting away with it. Once again that tennis player is the boorish and ridiculously overrated Andy Roddick.

But what bothered me almost as much as the spineless umpire allowing this tirade without punishment was the reaction of the ESPN commentators - John and Patrick McEnroe. Instead of condemning Roddick, both brothers sat chuckling as Roddick humiliated an official in a packed stadium and on live TV. John even brought back bad memories of his own boorishness by suggesting that Roddick's behaviour could even be a good strategy! Classy. The same thing happened at last year's US Open when Serena Williams threatened violence against an official. Several ESPN commentators, all Americans (along with the long time Williams sisters fanboy Tom Tebbutt of the Globe & Mail) downplayed the outburst and made excuses for Serena.

We know ESPN won't change so I'd like to see TSN pick up the international feed or Eurosport's English language coverage. It would also mean no bottom line ticker and instead of fluff interviews with non-tennis ESPN 'personalities' Hannah Storm and Mike Tirico in the middle of matches we'd get more live tennis.

Odds of it happening are slim to none, but I'm glad I got it off my chest.

 

[Andrew1]

More of the same with James Blake and the same weak umpire. The ESPN commentator (I didn't catch his name) just said you have to credit Andy for not blaming the foot fault for his loss! At least he and Patrick admitted Andy deserved a warning.

verd:

I'd love for them to pick up a BBC or an Australian feed, presuming that it was in HD anyway. Probably way too expensive for TSN though.

I thought ESPN would be more expensive than the international feed. Unless things have changed the BBC doesn't cover the US Open. I think Sky and Eurosport share it over there but even they would be a nice change. I liked at grand slams earlier in the year where we got a mixture: ESPN and NBC some days and international feed on others.

NBJosh:

"Its close to 100 degrees out there, I bet it never gets this warm in Canada?"

I joined the match a couple of games into it so I missed that. Shriver tries to play the funny lady as well. Sometimes it works but usually it doesn't.

 

[Andrew1]

sadchel, thanks for the link. As one of the posters there pointed out Patrick has depended on Roddick as Davis Cup captain. I'd forgotten about that conflict of interest.

 

[Andrew1]

Speaking of the Tennis Channel which has been around for a while now I wonder why I've never heard anything about us getting that north of the border. We get Speed Channel and I'm guessing the Golf Channel is also American so why not The Tennis Channel? It would be handy for all the European tournaments we don't get much coverage of. Admittedly, ratings wouldn't be very high in Canada for such a channel.

 

[Andrew1]

Here's another problem with not having our own coverage. The Canadian Polansky is in the fifth set against American James Blake. ESPN chose to leave that match to go to superstar/celebrity Maria Sharapova. The fact that they'd leave a Blake match indicates how much he has declined but still even though he's American Sharapova gets priority.

Edit: I meant the fourth set.

 

[Andrew1]

OK, spoke too soon. They've now gone to the Blake-Polansky match. I guess it helps that the women's match looks one-sided.

 

[Andrew1]

We're getting Tennis Channel coverage on TSN right now. Bill Macatee with Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova. I've never heard Connors as a commentator. Should be interesting.

 

[Andrew1]

Same thing happened today. Tennis Channel had some ticker as well but I don't think it was permanent. At least TSN2 showed all the Murray v Wawrinka match instead of going to Sportscentre at scheduled.

 

[Andrew1]

TSN has penciled in the men's final for 4pm to 7pm on Monday before it goes to NFL Countdown. I assume they can join that in progress unlike the actual Monday night game which, contractually, they are probably bound to show live. So if the men's final goes on really long or has more weather delays they'll probably switch it to TSN2 where they scheduled to show poker, Border Battle 9 Ball Challenge, and a replay of the world junior hockey final.