Tennis Is In a Good Place

I blame my mother. Or better yet, I credit my mother.

Way back before I really knew anything about tennis, my mother was a Bjorn Borg fan. Not Jimmy Connors. Not John McEnroe. Bjorn Borg. The Swede. Not the Americans.

With no other Americans outside of Serena Williams a threat to do anything in the world of tennis, it does not affect my enjoyment of the game. Thanks to mom, I learned long ago not to tie my love of good tennis to a flag.

On the men's side, how much better does it get than Roger Federer (I'm a FedFan), Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic slugging it out major after major. I could include Andy Murray in there as well. And then you have Stan Warkinka and Kei Nishikori. The interesting games of Gael Monfils and Alexandr Dolgopolov. How could anyone who likes the sport not be entertained?

Would it be nice if an American male could make a splash? Sure. But it does not define my enjoyment of tennis.

On the women's side, only Serena can beat Serena right now. When her head is right and she's on her game, nobody can beat her.

After that, it's wide open. Right now I'm kind of partial to Simona Halep. There are some good young American women, Madison Keyes, Sloane Stephens, Vavara Lepchencko (which further muddies the waters since she was not US born), and Coco Vandeweghe.

But there is also Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Sam Stosur, Victoria Azarenka, etc.

It's not the Olympics (except every four years) so I don't root for the flag beside the players name. For the most part. I usually just root for my favorites based on other things. So, yeah, get over the fact that American tennis is not at its apex. Just enjoy.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving baseball.

I could just leave it at that. Baseball season has started. You either get it or you don't. Here's something I wrote several years ago and tweaked over the years. Take me out to the ballpark.

I'm loving music.

There is so much good music out right now. I'm not loving that most people never hear it because it isn't played on mainstream radio. Ray Wylie Hubbard and Delta Rae came out with new albums yesterday. Let me know when you hear either of them on mainstream radio. Here are my favorite records for the first quarter of 2015. April has already been good. And there is some stuff coming up that I'm excited about.

Being a huge tennis fan, I'm starting to love Simona Halep. She's good. And those legs.

And that's all I've got this week. Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday.

Fed and Venus, Play as Long as You Want

Sports are cruel. And unforgiving. You lose a step, lose some power, lose...whatever, you're done. Washed up. Time to move on. You're shelf life is remarkably short. At least at the top of the profession.

Most careers, the more experience the better. And this is true of sports to certain degree. But the life span is so much shorter.

This brings me to tennis and more specifically Roger Federer and Venus Williams. And even more specifically the 2014 Australian Open. The fun slam.

Venus exited in a tough first round loss to Ekaterina Makarova in three sets. Now this was no upset by any means. Makarova is the number 22 seed and Venus was unseeded.

Venus has some health problems and is but a shell of her former self when she was queen of Wimbledon.

Federer is not the Federer the past few years. He many not even really be a part of the Big Four now. Age has caught up with him. And the likes of Rafael Nadal , Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have passed him by.

But he's still Roger Federer. Still moves elegantly. Can still pull off shots that others don't even think of.

What do these former champions have in common?

Both are asked when it will be time to hang up rackets (at least on the main tour). For Venus it's quite obvious why. Her health is preventing her from attaining the level in which she was once accustomed. She can still play at a high level, in spurts, but consistency is a problem.

For Federer, he is no longer the dominant player he once was. One who could be counted on to reach the semi-finals of every major. The player for whom winning only one major in a calendar year was ho-hum.

But, you know what? Both of these players love to compete. And I, for one, think they should continue to do so as long as they want.

Sure, both are in the twilights of their respective careers. Venus can still win some singles matches and along with her sister, Serena Williams, form one of the most formidable doubles teams in the world.

Roger has flashes of the old Federer. As long as those flashes are still there, hope remains for one more major title.

Until the day comes when these two decide to retire, just enjoy. Let them go out when they deem it the right time. It is not ours to decide.

Thoughts on Wimbledon

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer out by the second round.  Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka also.  Serena Williams ousted before the quarterfinals.  The last four days of Wimbledon must have been horrible.

Or maybe not.

Congratulations to Andy Murray especially.  Finally a Brit winning Wimbledon.

Congratulations to Marion Bartoli.  Wins the championship without dropping a set.

The championship matches did not live up to what took place two days prior, respectively.  Murray and Bartoli dispensed of Novak Djokovic and Sabine Lisicki in straight sets.  Props to Murray and Bartoli.  They both played very, very well.

On the women's side, Lisiscki was gassed, both mentally and physically.  A three set win over Serena in the round of sixteen in which she was down 3-0 in the third set only to come back. Then in the semis, she pulled the same trick on Agnieska Radwanska.  Finally winning 9-7 in the third.

One of the most entertaining matches on the WTA we have seen in recent years.

But that was only a prelude to the Djokovic match against Juan Martin del Potro.  A five set insta-classic.

Both gentlemen battled, gutted, dug deep.  The fourth set tie-break, won by Del Potro, should be played on a loop on the Tennis Channel when they are lacking for programming.  We would watch.  It was that good.

Djoker will get another Wimbledon at some point.  Maybe Lisicki will get her first.

The finals were a celebration of Murray and Bartoli, not a referendum on Djoker and Lisicki.

Things just got interesting going into the hard court season.  US Open, we can't wait.

NBC Should Take a Cue From Their Friends at the Tennis Channel

While not being able to watch the first week of Wimbledon matches live, we took to Wimbledon Primetime on the Tennis Channel. As we were watching, the Olympic Games and NBC kept creeping into our mind.

The Tennis Channel does a fantastic job at broadcasting matches from the majors that we tennis fans already know the outcome.  They begin the broadcast recapping the big stories of the day. Then, the best parts of the best matches are shown. Interviews are interspersed throughout the tennis action.  It makes for quite enjoyable viewing.

While this is definitely not an apples to apples comparison, NBC could learn a lot from the Tennis Channel leading up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

NBC has exclusive broadcast rights in the United States for the Olympics.  The Tennis Channel does not for Wimbledon.  ESPN has the live rights.  Therefore NBC can control what and when events are broadcast for U.S. consumption.

This is not a bash NBC post.  On the contrary.  For the most part NBC does an outstanding job covering the Gamesl with its many broadcast platforms (NBC, NBCSports, MSNBC, CNBC, USA).  Many more different events are given more extensive coverage than in the days of one broadcast outlet. We love that one of the stations becomes the de facto Curling Channel during the Winter Games.

But the rub comes with the primetime telecast on the mother station. The show itself is fine. Show the most anticipated races, competitions, etc.  Sprinkle in some human interest and interviews. It is good viewing.

The problem is with the intelligence-insulting way that things are presented - as if nobody knows the results. Anyone with a smartphone, internet access, a television or radio can get the results if they desire.  There is no reason for NBC to pretend otherwise.

Also with live streaming available, there is not reason for NBC not to broadcast the top events live either.

A large portion of the United States population is unable to view the events live anyway.  The primetime telecast should not suffer.  And don't deprive those that work during primetime the chance to see the events live.  And stop pretending we don't know.

Maybe it will ruin everything for the one guy living in a trailer in the foothills of a mountain range with no telephone, no internet and through an elaborate and complex configuration of aluminum foil and wire coat hangers is able to get a lone NBC station on his 19 inch black and white television.  But he will persevere.

Best of 3 vs. Best of 5

Here in the Cheap Seats, we have long been proponents of the best of five for men's tennis in the majors.

Not so much anymore.

The game has become more physical. Wear and tear on the body has become more pronounced.  This is not your father's tennis.

Does the drama of the the five set match outweigh the consequences?  In today's tennis world, we think not.

At Indian Wells we saw Martin del Potro play three straight three set matches in the quarters, semins and finals.  All three matches were fantasitc tennis.

All the drama was present in all three matches.  And it was more urgent.

Too many times in the major events, the winner of a long five set match puts up little resistance in the next round's match.

We think the improvement of the overall quality of matches would outweigh the loss of a few epic five setters.

What an Incredible US Open to End the Tennis "Season"

OK, I guess it's official. The "Big Four" that is.

Andy Murray finally won that elusive major.  Each of the Big Four (Murray, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer) won a major title in 2012.  Murray also won the Olympics title.

In the Cheap Seats, we are exhausted, as fans, after a long and exhilarating year.  We cannot even imagine how the players must feel.  But, alas, there is still tennis to be played.  Really, though, tennis should have an offseason  between the end of the US Open and the e start of the Australian Open.  Why not culminate with the last major of the year, then let everyone take a well-deserved break.

Let the players recuperate.  Let the fans catch their breath.  Start back up in late December/early January with Aussie Open tune-up tournaments.  Tennis has never been better world-wide than it is right now.  Let us not run it into the ground.  A true offseason is needed more now than ever before

Personally, we are going to take a break.  We only wish the players could do the same.

Bad Week for the UTSA and US Open

Bad, no awful, few days for the USTA.  First, in an indefensible move, they suspend the number one junior player in world, Taylor Townsend.  Tom Perrotta does a fantastic job of explaining it here and has a great piece with Lindsay Davenport and Martina Navratilova here.  Therefore,  we won't discuss it any further in the Cheap Seats.

But we will expound on the USTA's second boneheaded move this week, well third if you count stretching the first round of the US Open over three days, but that is not pertinent to this discussion.

The men's final will again be played on Monday in 2012.  This has happened way too often recently.  This year it could have been avoided.  Here we pause to give credit to the USTA for getting one thing rioght - suspending play during a severe weather alert.  That, my friends, was a no-brainer.

However, before play was suspended, both men's semis should have been in the books.  When you have a weather window, you get in as many matches as possible.  Simultaneous semis on Ashe and Armstrong was the play here.  You're probably not going to get in the women's final, but that's not a huge deal.  Really, who among tennis fans would not like to see a men's and women's double header final on the last day of the tournament?

I realize there are ticket issues and TV issues at stake when you start monkeying with the schedule, but now there are even bigger issues because they weren't dealt with initially.  I know of at least one market where the men's Monday final was not shown because the local affiliate, either by contract or a local decision.

There needs to be some changes made before the 2013 US Open.