Nothing against Maria Sharapova...
But ESPN and ESPN2 are driving me crazy with their all-Maria-all-the-time programming. The Nasdaq-100 Open round of 16 is in progress, and anyone who has even the slightest interest in women's tennis had to have wanted badly to see the Ivanovic-Kuzentsova match. Unfortunately, Ivanovic is not (yet) a big name, and Kuznetsova, though she won the U.S. Open, is not a slinky blonde with long legs. So I have to keep up with the very tight 3-set Ivanovic-Kuznetsova thriller through an electronic scoreboard, while Sharapova runs over Asagoe in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2 (Asagoe played better than the score indicates) on my television set.
I like Maria Sharapova and really enjoy watching her play. She is a real boon to women's tennis. But it is no fun to watch a Maria or a Serena whack away an opponent in two sets. Granted, yesterday's contest with Serena and Shahar Peer turned out to be surprisingly exciting, but that was just a lucky accident. Does ESPN really believe that by showing Maria and Serena all the time they will get more viewers than if they show really exciting matches that tennis fans want to see? Maybe they do. Maybe they are correct. But as a tennis fan, I am totally frustrated.
I like Maria Sharapova and really enjoy watching her play. She is a real boon to women's tennis. But it is no fun to watch a Maria or a Serena whack away an opponent in two sets. Granted, yesterday's contest with Serena and Shahar Peer turned out to be surprisingly exciting, but that was just a lucky accident. Does ESPN really believe that by showing Maria and Serena all the time they will get more viewers than if they show really exciting matches that tennis fans want to see? Maybe they do. Maybe they are correct. But as a tennis fan, I am totally frustrated.
posted by Diane at 2:33 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Don't complain ! At least you can watch some of the matches of the Nasdq 100 Open, whereas in other countries such as France, you must pay for special channels to have the opportunity to see some games. Enven when they are Masters Series in Europe !
I share your point of view : tennis is pleasant to watch only if you can see different types of games and players.
By
Anonymous, at
8:43 PM
You have to pay in the U.S., too. Most of the matches are on cable. The good thing is that ESPN and ESPN2 are basic cable in most packages, as far as I know, and yes, a lot of people have cable television in the U.S. You have to pay extra for the tennis channel, though, if you can get it at all.
By
Diane, at
1:42 PM
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