From: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin)
Subject: Re: US Open - General Observations
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 17:17:53 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park
Originator: clin@coke.eng.umd.edu


In article <1992Sep10.211612.29861@news2.cis.umn.edu>, Anne Bilek <anne@boombox.micro.umn.edu> writes:
>Excuse me, but I would prefer that the announcers cater to the casual
>viewer rather than to the die-hard types waiting in front of their T.V.'s
>with a Player's Guide to catch a mistake.  That's how people get
>interested in a sport - by having the basics explained.  One of the main
>problems with tennis is that it has always seemed somewhat exclusionary. 
>Your post only reinforces that.


    I may be the one of the few defenders of Clark.   However, look at some
telecast of football.   Obviously, they believe that the majority of the
viewers know enough of the rules of football (which are quite numerous
and always changing -- American football, that is).  I would guess that
a telecast in Britain a few years ago would have the announcers explaining
what a down was or a sack or a blitz, etc., since American football is
new to England and viewers have very little clue (they may now since it's
been there several years) about all the intricacies of the game.  I
doubt too many people learned the rules of football by merely watching
the game (maybe some do) and listening to announcers.

   Now, tennis isn't that bad either.  Usually, they don't tell people
that two faults consist of a double fault or that if the ball touches
any part of the line, it is good.  Sometimes the mention the 25 second
rule, and that's moderately useful.  It would be nice if some of the
folks were a little more accurate in their comments, however.  For
example, in football and baseball (I think, I hardly watch either), it
is common to know of some injury, yet in tennis, people will make
guesses about who will win often under the assumption they are healthy.
Asking a few questions about what injuries may be bothering the player
seems like good reporting to me.  It seems Shun knows more about what
injuries plague the players than say a Mary Carillo (well, *she* might
know).

   In general, what I dislike is the constant repetition of the score
whenever the chair umpire has just called it.  It's as if they
believe the listener can't hear it, or can't deal with the silence.
In Hard Courts, by Feinstein, Ted Tinling was said to have criticized
Wendy Turnbull(?) for making obvious statements, such as "She just hit
a ball crosscourt".  Tim Mayotte is guilty of this in replays as well.
Just echoing what was done.  After a while, one ought to know what
down the line and crosscourt is.  Hopefully, with experience, this
will change.

   Actually, one word that is being used a lot, or phrase, is
"second effort".  Both Vitas Gerulaitis and John McEnroe use the
phrase.  It is meant to refer to when a player goes after a shot
that could have been potentially a winner or a forced error, and
returns the shot, forcing the other player to have to hit one
more shot than they might have expected.   So, it might be used
as "Chang made a great second effort to get to the drop shot,
but Ferreira was able to put it away."

   Other than that, the tv coverage is fine.  Not great, but OK.
One comment that was interesting was when they were describing
Guy Forget's racquet.  It turns out to have been designed by
Rene Lacoste who also invented the T-2000 that Connors used
for so many years.  Supposedly it has twice the sweetspot
of racquets that size, but everyone claims their racquet
as having the largest sweetspot.  Unfortunately, I don't
think that racquet (the Lacoste Equijet, according to Tennis
magazine) is available in the US.

--
Charles Lin
clin@eng.umd.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis