Wonderful BBC

indiana · Tennis legend

Wonderful BBC

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

It's on BBC1 now during the rain break as they are showing what happened.

I was watching this ahead of the women's matches today, and it's a fantastic match, far better than you'd expect from Clement/Schuettler, and could well be the best match of the tournament.

What a time for the rain to come down though and stop the match, and I don't know which of the players will be feeling best at having the break.

(And the Bryans vs Bjorkman/Ullyett match stopped at a horrible time.... B/U lead *7-8 in the 4th set tiebreak, which them holding thier first match point when the rain fell.... so the Bryans have to come out, and straight away save a match point on their serve)

Salmon · Tennis legend

Off the main topic and I don't want to hijack, but it's so good to see a QF from two players who weren't even expected to the reach the round of 16. You gotta love Schuettler for his comeback - it must have been hard for him to go down to Challengers after the heights he had reached in 2003.

-- Edited by Greenleaf at 18:04, 2008-07-03

john · Top national player

I have BBCi and I actually think it has been disappointing this year. Only a choice of 4 screens whereas last year I'm sure there were 8 and they showed much more doubles. At least we're getting some juniors this year which is pretty cool.

Not sure what makes the BBC think that anyone would rather watch one of the Williams brothers batter some poor girl rather than a fantastic close men's quarter final but I think it's in the contracts of everyone who works at the BBC to brown nose the Williams bros. Some of the comments they make about them are so bizarre, they are totally immune to criticism and of course, they are exactly what everyone wants to watch on terrestrial TV when an exciting men's quarter is going on.

Rant over

indiana · Tennis legend

Ah, John, but the Williams' have such humility in victory. Venus could hardly stop dancing about enough to extend a hand to Demetieva.

john · Top national player

And they're so ELEGANT and GLAMOROUS.

And Serena would NEVER swear on court (uttered by one of the BBC chimps moments after she was given a warning for an audible obscenity)

seagull · Hall of fame

Have no interest in the Womens final at all this year

James · Satellite level

One of my bigger qualms with the BBC coverage this year has been the showing of the same match on two channels, on quite a few occasions there has been the same match on either BBC1/BBC2 as well as on one of the interactive channels, a decision that just seems to be born out of laziness as there has always been plenty of different matches to show. Also I fail to understand why those of us with freeview only get two more matches to view on interactive when the BBC appears to have the channels 105, 301, 302 & 303 [correct me if I'm mistaken] at their disposal.

Also, Greg Rusedski?! [Need I say anymore?]

mkkreuk · Admin:Moderator + ATP qualifying

You guys, John, particuarly, should read your comments over, they're disgraceful.

What is the point of your rant against the Williams sisters? I thought this topic was about the coverage of the BBC.

What does being glamorous, elegant and humble have to do with anything? If you don't like their tennis style, then that's tough - it's successful and therefore they'll be on terrestial television for a long time. I guarantee that if these were the Ren sisters, in ten years time, both of you would be extolling their every virtue and "brown nosing" them whenever you had the opportunity. You'd be talking about their resillience, their great shotmaking, their athleticism, their power... You'd not be concerned, not even in the slightest, of their 'dominance. In fact, how many times have you complained that we've had to watch Fed dismantle a player, when their have been tonnes of 'more interesting' matches unfolding? Just take the blinkers off.

Venus won a semi-final for god's sake. She was really pleased. She's just one match away from defending her title from one of her favourite tournaments, and so it's understandable that she did a little jig to celebrate. Regardless, i don't see the relevance of that point.

Also, why is swearing such a big fuss to you now? You're not kicking up a fuss (and rightly so) over Andy's behaviour in the past.

John, calling them the 'William Brothers' is just so lame. You do know you sound about ten years old, right? You're not are you?

I I'm not a fan of either but I'm not so sour that i'd say this kind of trite. You just sound bitter and hypocritical. No-one is forcing you to watch them.

What are the odds that you like Sharapova (like me) but never seem to have any problem with her grunting? If not Sharapova, there must be some other player who you don't seem to have a problem with. My point is that whilst no player should be immune to criticism, it should be relevant to their tennis, which isn't what you're doing.

john · Top national player

Rusedski nowhere near as bad as Castle. But at least when Castle and Mcenroe are on screen together it makes for great viewing. The contempt on Mcenroe's face when Castle spouts his rubbish is priceless and his putdowns are great.

A real positive this year has been Tim Henman. What a great addition. He's a natural. His commentary is great because he doesn't just need to talk for the sake of it. He only opens his mouth when he has something valuable to add, a real trait of the all time great analysts and commentators. Richie Bernaud and Clive Everton are 2 prime examples of followers of this principle who are the best in their fields

mkkreuk · Admin:Moderator + ATP qualifying

James wrote:
One of my bigger qualms with the BBC coverage this year has been the showing of the same match on two channels, on quite a few occasions there has been the same match on either BBC1/BBC2 as well as on one of the interactive channels, a decision that just seems to be born out of laziness as there has always been plenty of different matches to show. Also I fail to understand why those of us with freeview only get two more matches to view on interactive when the BBC appears to have the channels 105, 301, 302 & 303 [correct me if I'm mistaken] at their disposal.

Also, Greg Rusedski?! [Need I say anymore?]

First post on this thread that I wholeheartedly agree with.

john · Top national player

mkkreuk wrote:

You guys, John, particuarly, should read your comments over, they're disgraceful.

What is the point of your rant against the Williams sisters? I thought this topic was about the coverage of the BBC.

What does being glamorous, elegant and humble have to do with anything? If you don't like their tennis style, then that's tough - it's successful and therefore they'll be on terrestial television for a long time. I guarantee that if these were the Ren sisters, in ten years time, both of you would be extolling their every virtue and "brown nosing" them whenever you had the opportunity. You'd be talking about their resillience, their great shotmaking, their athleticism, their power... You'd not be concerned, not even in the slightest, of their 'dominance. In fact, how many times have you complained that we've had to watch Fed dismantle a player, when their have been tonnes of 'more interesting' matches unfolding? Just take the blinkers off.

Venus won a semi-final for god's sake. She was really pleased. She's just one match away from defending her title from one of her favourite tournaments, and so it's understandable that she did a little jig to celebrate. Regardless, i don't see the relevance of that point.

Also, why is swearing such a big fuss to you now? You're not kicking up a fuss (and rightly so) over Andy's behaviour in the past.

John, calling them the 'William Brothers' is just so lame. You do know you sound about ten years old, right? You're not are you?

I I'm not a fan of either but I'm not so sour that i'd say this kind of trite. You just sound bitter and hypocritical. No-one is forcing you to watch them.

What are the odds that you like Sharapova (like me) but never seem to have any problem with her grunting? If not Sharapova, there must be some other player who you don't seem to have a problem with. My point is that whilst no player should be immune to criticism, it should be relevant to their tennis, which isn't what you're doing.

Well first off, you should probably read back some of Andy's match threads where I've layed into Andy for his disgraceful on court behaviour. But that's beside the point. It's not the fact that she swore, it's the fact that 30 seconds later the commentator said that she'd never swear on court! When she just had!

Also, surely anyone with 2 semi-functioning eyes can see that they're enough but elegant and glamorous?! There's plenty of compliments you could throw their way but elegant and glamorous aren't 2 of them.

And Sharapova? Can't stand the woman. And I'm not saying the commentators should rip into her for the celebrations but to continually make a point of saying how humble they are when they are anything but is just ridiculous. Whenever Serena loses she can never ever give credit to her opponent. Once she's behind in a match, she fakes an injury so that she can use it as an excuse afterwards. She's a really bad bad loser and it's about time the BBC got out of their arses long enough to see it.

mkkreuk · Admin:Moderator + ATP qualifying

I didn't say they are elegant and glamourous. I said that it was an irrelevant statement.

You might as well have said they can't play table tennis. It's just pointless.

john · Top national player

But as you said, this thread is about the BBC. And the BBC constantly tell us they are elegant and glamorous. Hence why I made the point.

mkkreuk · Admin:Moderator + ATP qualifying

If you really think the opinions (particuarly #4) you were expressing were against the BBC rather than an unwarranted and unnecessary bashing of the William's sister you really are deluded.

I'm probably talking to a brick wall here, so I think I'll give this thread a miss and actually do something useful.