TennisGrandStand

Pacific Life Open—TV Coverage Update:

It all comes down to where you live.

Australian tennis fans were dancing in the street with all day coverage of the first weekend of play from the Pacific Life Open. ESPN Star Sports and Sky Sports put a smile on the faces of Asian and British fans with their broadcasts from Indian Wells. Fans who depend on Eurosport had to be satisfied with coverage of only women’s matches from the event.

Americans on the other hand complained bitterly on message boards across the internet over both the spotty FSN coverage and the lackluster commentary. For those on the East Coast, FSN came in later than scheduled, and after less than two hours, went off the air minutes before Andy Roddick took the court against Tommy Haas. Those in other parts of the country received even less air time or watched matches on tape delay. Barry Tompkins commentary along side Justin Gimelstob and Chanda Rubin bordered on boring, making fans who normally deride ESPN yearn for Patrick McEnroe’s annoying “dropper” shouts.

FSN’s weekend broadcasts was particularly frustrating for U.S. tennis fans after enjoying last year’s all day coverage for the first weekend of the event on the Tennis Channel.

Keeping Them Honest—Live Streaming Update:

ATP Masters Series TV gets high marks for the excellent quality picture for its live streaming. On the down side, fans can only watch the action live as it is being played. After paying such an exorbitant amount of money to get the ATP live streaming, it’s a mystery why fans can’t see the matches on demand: completed matches should be uploaded to allow fans to watch at their leisure.

Also surprising was the mere two court coverage for the first weekend. For that price, fans should at least get Stadium 3 coverage, a court which hosted a number of exciting matches over the weekend. Fans of the men’s game were particularly upset since many times there was a woman’s match on one of the two feeds. If a fan is going through the trouble and expense of purchasing ATP Masters Series TV, in all likelihood, they want to watch the men’s matches.

The fans message to the ATP is loud and clear: we want to watch what we want to watch when we want to watch it.

Those unwilling to part with their hard earned dollars or euros for limited coverage were able to watch live streaming on either Betfair or the Star Sports feed on TVU. Fans had problems with the quality of the feed on Betfair, and there were complaints over the picture freezing on TVU.

Surfing Youtube—“I’m All About The Love”:

Andy Roddick may have made an early exit from the Pacific Life Open, but he wins the award for best post match interview thanks to a bizarre question from a reporter: “What is going on in the love department?” Watch and see how Roddick ducks the question.

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