0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/26/2014
In an attempt to describe the experience of playing left field at Yankee Stadium during the World Series and its October afternoons, Yogi Berra said, “It gets late early out there.” For Stanislas Wawrinka, this was no October afternoon, but a late May evening in Paris during the longest days of the year. It was […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Tennis coverage on American television was so much worse several years ago. The rise of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal created ample demand for the product itself, but the quality of the product didn’t always meet the standards of tennis fans new and old. In recent years, however, a number of problems have been solved. […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Tennis has endured some rough live TV moments on American airwaves in recent years, but those embarrassments are exceeded in severity by the more structural problems tennis faces on the tube in this country. Five lingering deficiencies – pertaining to industry realities, not individual match broadcasts – continue to prevent this sport from being presented […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Do you really, really want to watch major-tournament tennis? Do you want to set aside two weeks of the calendar to watch this marvelous sport, referred to by many of its best chroniclers as “boxing without the blood”? Advice and pointers will be found in this brief viewer’s guide to the 2014 Roland Garros event, […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/25/2014
American fans will tell you that tennis is treated much more poorly on U.S. television than other major sports, including and especially golf, the other main solo-athlete sport in this country. What are the moments (not industry realities, but live on-air occurrences) that have stayed in the minds of American tennis viewers? 5 – THE […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Part of the experience of following tennis – especially at the four major tournaments – is significantly enhanced by joining “Tennis Twitter,” the social media community that tweets about tennis. Every community has its flaws (because all human beings are imperfect), but Tennis Twitter is a delightfully diverse place in which a casual sports fan […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/23/2014
The Roland Garros men’s draw is out. Here’s the top quarter of the draw, featuring Rafael Nadal. Click on the other three quarters of the draw to pop them up on your computer. Here are five initial impressions of the draw. This year, the draw is newsworthy precisely because… well… no fan base of a […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The Roland Garros women’s draw is out. You can look at it here. If you’re new to the art of bracket-scanning, realize that you are looking at one quarter of the draw and can click on the other three quarters to bring them up on your screen. Take your time – the first ball won’t be struck […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/22/2014
It’s an old trick when you’re doing a list of five, but this is an occasion in which a fifth-place tie really is needed to put six matches on the short list of the most significant encounters ever staged at France’s major tennis tournament. Go through this list. Just exactly which match doesn’t drip with […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/21/2014
We’ll look at this topic from the men’s side tomorrow, but we’ll get started with the history of women’s tennis at Roland Garros. These are not the five best women’s matches in Roland Garros history, though some of the entries on the list would certainly qualify as such. There’s something different about the most significant […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 5/19/2014
“You can have Rome — I’ll take Paris.” It’s a statement the French would readily agree with, but it’s also something tennis players would agree with as well. Winning the ATP Masters 1000 stop or the WTA Premier 5 event in Rome is certainly a nice prize to have, but it doesn’t hold a candle […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Where does American tennis stand on the eve of the 2014 Roland Garros tournament? The outlook is better for the women than the men… but it’s not as though the women paint a portrait of quality depth and steady, robust growth. Forget this nation’s clay-court woes; American tennis just needs players who can be consistently […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
This is a pre-draw assessment of the uncertainties that will greet the 2014 Roland Garros women’s tournament. When the draw is announced this Friday morning in Paris, the process of “tennis bracketology” can begin. For now, though, one can only look at a few players irrespective of the draw and ask questions about what they’ll […]
Sticking with a first-round Roger Federer blowout (6-1, 6-1, 6-3) while other, more compelling matches are going on? That’s the kind of superstar treatment major-tournament tennis does NOT need on TV — not during week one of a two-week event.
0 comments by Matt Zemek
When tennis tournaments are previewed, a “B.C. and A.D.” time-split exists: before the draw, and after the draw. The Friday announcement of the Roland Garros bracket will bring forth its own questions, but here are five players that will carry their own question marks to Paris, regardless of where they fall in this 128-player event: […]
