Breaking: ESPN Will No Longer Carry the French Open

by Savannah

Breaking news this morning is that ESPN has made a decision to drop it's coverage of the French Open after 13 years. Why?

■ 2013 – 298,000 viewers
■ 2014 – 233,000 viewers
■ 2015 – 267,000 viewers
of the Grand Slam.

Some of it's daily round of sports news programs attract almost twice the viewers in an hour or so.

This is bad news for tennis fans who don't have access to Tennis Channel which now owns the rights to the event. I'm not sure if NBC Sports Network is carried by basic cable in the United States.

From the SBJ Article

To underscore the point that ESPN’s decision was not part of the network’s cost-cutting moves, sources said ESPN paid Tennis Channel a sublicense fee in the low seven-figure range — a figure that is the lowest of tennis’ four Grand Slam events, by far.

Plus, ESPN sources say the event did not cost a lot of money to produce. The network opted to use the international feed produced by Tennis Channel.

(...)

The move marks a slight shift for ESPN, which over the years has looked to increase its rights around tennis’ Grand Slam events to improve continuity.

At Wimbledon, ESPN controls the whole package, with Tennis Channel cutting a separate deal with the rights holders, the All England Club. At the U.S. Open, it is Tennis Channel that sublicenses from ESPN, a deal that will continue, Guglielmino said. ESPN has one more tournament remaining on its sublicense with Tennis Channel for the Australian Open. Asked about ESPN’s commitment to that event, Guglielmino said the sublicense was different than the French Open one, and he remained committed to the event.

More on this later.

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The French Open Day 1

by Savannah

Before I get to the pictures I want to understand something. It was known that Viktoria Azarenka was injured going into the French Open. Well known. So why is it that her loss is being talked about as a major upset while this result - Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) d. (20) María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) 62 64 - is being ignored? MJMS was hot coming into Paris and many expected her to go deep in the tournament. Instead she's out to a woman who barely played any tennis during the clay season.
Meanwhile Azarenka left the grounds without granting an interview to the press. That means that in addition to not defending her quarterfinal points from last year she's being fined. Not a good day for Miss Azarenka.

I also need to understand how Chris Fowler could talk about Janko Tipsarevic being a contender when at the time this comment aired Tipsarevic had already lost? When did they record this stuff?

I watched Ernests Gulbis spraying shots all over the court and thought it was nerves. Instead he retired with an injury.

And finally I need to know who the hell told Svetlana Kuznetsova to wear shorts that do nothing but call attention to her derriere and not in a good way. I'm also guessing that Aravane Rezai is wearing that horrid gold thing. The only picture I saw of her was on the RG official site and she was in it.

Glad to see butts in the seats for Venus Williams match against Patty Schnyder.

The Frenchmen rained catcalls on Venus when she revealed the black lace version of her French Maid outfit. The skirt appears to be see through. They liked it. A lot. Especially since the shorts are skin toned. Venus skin tone.

It was a bright sunny day in Paris and the courts needed to be maintained.

The French Tennis Federation turned down Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's request to start later this week. They were consistent and turned down Richard Gasquet's request as well. Gasquet cited the Nice tournament win and Tsonga cited illness. It took Jo five sets but he prevailed over a determined Daniel Brands of Germany.

The Big Yellow Ball Brigades were out in force. When they're on the move you know a match is over.

Despite her loss it's good to see Anne Keothavong competing again.

End Note

I've been spoiled. I lasted an hour listening to the announcers on Tennis Channel/ESPN today. Not one of them seemed to have been watching any of the clay court season and Chris Fowler wasn't the only one who suffered from foot in mouth disease. When one of them commented that a player was sliding into his shot instead of using a more traditional approach I'd had it. I don't remember if this was before or after John McEnroe waxed poetic about how a day like this would play on the hard courts at the BJK Tennis center in New York.

Sure Robbie Koenig , Jason Goodall and their compatriots had their fanboy moments but in the end it was all about the tennis. The thing is when you wake up at five in the morning and are still lying in bed what happens is that you fall asleep. Oh well.

Heard Around

by Savannah

Here's a follow up to Martina Navratilova's comments posted here yesterday.

It seems inconceivable that the Williams sisters, given their wide-ranging lifestyles and sporadic commitment, rank 1-2 in the world. Nothing says they can't combine to win the next four majors -- but that's not the point. Where's that traditional elite player, the Martina Navratilova or Steffi Graf, who shows up every week and presents a relentless, dominant challenge? The talent is there -- Serena, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova -- but somebody's always hurt, or inconsistent, or struggling to regain form.

It's a tour without a clear identity, and this has to be a reason why Europe shrugs in indifference. Crowds were shockingly thin for most women's matches in the recent clay-court events. Jelena Jankovic took the court in Rome for a quarterfinal against Venus, and the atmosphere resembled a match for seventh place in a Division III collegiate tournament. Venus and Aravene Rezai began their Madrid final in a near-empty arena, filling up (to a degree) only as the match approached the one-hour mark.

Tennis needs stars, people to count on, which is why a packed house was buzzing well before Federer and Nadal even took the court. If someone is going to step up on the women's tour, she has yet to identify herself.

I'm not quite sure where this Bruce Jenkins has been for the last couple of years but the WTA has been playing to near empty stadiums - as chronicled in this space - for going on two years now. It doesn't matter if the tournament is in the States or overseas.

And lets get real here. If Martina and Steffi were just starting out now they would not be considered stars by the WTA tour. Not the right look or lifestyle would be the unwritten attitude towards the two women. Until the WTA starts marketing the tour not individual personalities the stands will remain empty for even their marquee players.

And I don't know where he gets this idea that no one has stepped up to the plate to carry the tour. Venus Williams and Serena Williams have shown they can indeed play top ranked tennis. All the others have shown is that they can take a decent picture. I consider this talk about the tour being a mess to be racist. There is no beating around the bush on this. There was no one in the stands when Dinara Safina was number one. Aside from drooling prepubescent boys the stands were pretty empty when Maria Sharapova was on the court. Neither Kim Clijsters nor Justine Henin are major draws except in the United States where the Cult of the Belgians seems to be strongest. Lets be clear. What is being said is that two American women of African descent are not draws. Bullshit. It's the WTA tour and it's head in the sand marketing approach that have caused the demise of fan interest in their product. Let's not blame the women who have carried the tour for that. The blame goes right to the top and should be focused there.

This article is an interesting insight into how the American tennis establishment thinks as well as how the so called tennis media simply regurgitates their opinions.

Jenkins does manage to get one valid point in though.

As for TC's setup in Madrid: The men's tour has an international network for the nine Masters events and year-end championships, complete with announcers on the scene. The WTA has no such deal, which explains why Katrina Adams and Brian Webber called all of the Madrid women's matches from a studio in Los Angeles.

Random Results
Tsvetana Pironkova defeated Elena Dementieva at Polsat 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. The match lasted three hours and saw Elena commit 59 unforced errors.

Olivier Rochus defeated Robin Soderling at Nice 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Maria Sharapova beat up on Dia Evtimova, a qualifier from Bulgaria 6-3 and 6-0. Her first serve percentage for the match was 96%.