Tennis-X.com Notes: BBC Tennis Commentators in Hot Water?
Posted on June 21, 2006DAILY TENNIS-X E-NEWSLETTER
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARB
From Neil Harman writing for The Times Online: "Perhaps it was the sight of Tim Henman almost winning a match that got them overexcited. Perhaps they just got too involved. After a crucial line call in a semi-final of the Stella Artois tournament, an embattled Henman apparently looked away from the umpire up to the BBC commentary box for guidance -- and got it. Henman was leading Lleyton Hewitt 2-1 in the final set on Saturday and was within a point of taking the fourth game to deuce on his serve when he struck a shot that was called "good" by the base linesman. Hewitt screamed in protest. A split-second later, the linesman reversed his decision. Emmanuel Messina, the umpire, upheld the delayed call but Henman, riled, looked up to the BBC box where Chris Bailey and John Lloyd, two close acquaintances, were commentating. Lloyd, the former British No 1 and Davis Cup coach, is believed to have signalled that the call was wrong: the ball had touched the back of the line. This prompted Henman to demand to see Thomas Karlberg, the match supervisor, but the latter said he could do nothing to influence line calling. "Are you saying they (the commentators) are lying to me?" Henman asked, but to no avail. He lost the point, the game and the following four games to lose the match. Television pundits with their slow-motion replays are accustomed to sitting in judgment on umpire calls, but with Wimbledon only one week away the ATP, the governing body for men's tennis, is worried that commentators may have begun broadcasting their decisions to the court. The BBC is holding an investigation."...From Max "The Beast" Mirnyi blogging for the ATP: "One really funny thing had been happening several times over the last couple of days with [daughter Melanie] learning to speak and today was a "classic" one: With the support of the national football team in the World Cup so many cars in England ride with their flags attached. So, to get Melanie's attention from time to time we point our finger and say FLAG, FLAG, FLAG, so she looks and she quickly forgets whatever the problem was. Today at some point of the match when I lost a quick exchange at the net naturally the crowd started applauding my opponent (keep in mind that he is a Brit) and right after everyone stopped, and we were setting up for the next point I hear Melanie say F..K, F..K, F..K. Can you imagine?!!!! I of course kept my composure and stayed focused but I could just feel my wife turn red and get so embarrassed... Of course very few realized that our dear Melanie was pointing the finger across the court where some kids had little English flags in their hands in support of Alex [Bogdanovic]." -- Got to get a corral on that kid's Brit-hatin' complex, hyuk...Mary Pierce has pulled from Wimbledon with her ongoing foot injury...Two former Wimbledon semifinalists squared off in the Wimbledon qualifying Tuesday when No. 602-ranked Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson beat Aussie-Serb Jelena Dokic in three sets: "Her game is one-dimensional and it collapsed with the wind," Stevenson said of Dokic. "She was playing well at the beginning and I was surprised by it but I've got over my first hurdle -- two more and then the seven at Wimbledon." -- Nice confidence level for someone who likely won't get out of the qualifying...Andy Murray slipped on the Nottingham grass Tuesday in a win over Dmitry Tursunov injuring his Achilles, and may pull to be 100 percent fit for Wimbledon: "I slipped and felt my Achilles tendon jar," Murray said. "I thought it was bad at first, but now it just feels like it's bruised. Obviously this tournament is important, but it's not the same as playing at Wimbledon, so I asked (trainer) Bill (Norris), 'If I slip again and do the same thing, is that going to make it bad?' He said, 'Yes, possibly.' But he told me not to think about it and said I should play. I'll now take stock in the morning."...Russian Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva speaking with Tennis Week on her favorite players: "I like to watch Andy Roddick. Every time he serves, I just check the speed of the serve [laughs]. And (Andre) Agassi. I think (Marcelo) Rios was another player I liked to watch. I watched him play in Washington and I think he was a great player to watch, for me. I think he was like an actor on the court. And I love it because he was doing his show. Everybody knows it's tough to play in tennis, especially when it's 100 degrees. And he was like, performing as an actor. You can always see his emotions. He wasn't like just standing there, doing his job. You could see how he feels."...If Rafael Nadal pulls from Wimbledon mid-match with his shoulder injury, ask why he played an exo this week after pulling from an ATP event last week...Andre Agassi has committed to play L.A. in July...From Andy Roddick: "It's tough knowing that you're a better player than you were two or three years ago but not having a lot to show for it." -- That's excluding the Brad Gilbert period, we presume...Anna Kournikova tells Tennis Week she will play her fourth season of World TeamTennis, but a comeback is physically still out of the question: "I have a chronic spinal lumbar dysfunction. If I exercise a little too much it does bother me. If I start training for six hours a day on a professional level that's when it's really troubled. If I exercise one or two hours a day it doesn't bother me. I don't know how to fix that problem right now. If I knew, I would have come back and played already. World TeamTennis is very competitive, but it's a good level for me physically and personally (because it is) a very short amount of time so my back doesn't start to get bad...It's very hard to say right now. I don't know what the goal is right now. I'm just kind of taking a break and taking it a day or month at a time. Believe me, if I would know I would already make some sort of announcement or statement. As you can imagine, I get these questions all the time. Really, I want to be honest and I don't want to raise anyone's expectations or my expectations."
Who cares if you need it or not, show your love for Tennis-X, contribute to the fund, only eight bucks for one year of daily tennis news! Pay as you go! Read what tennis industry insiders read each morning to get their heads around the latest news, insight and opinion on pro tennis. A year's subscription costs less than a meal and a pint. Get the Tennis-X Daily Dish in your e-mail in-box, even before it's posted on the web, by signing up for the net's most complete daily e-newsletter at http://www.tennis-x.com/subscribe.php
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARB
From Neil Harman writing for The Times Online: "Perhaps it was the sight of Tim Henman almost winning a match that got them overexcited. Perhaps they just got too involved. After a crucial line call in a semi-final of the Stella Artois tournament, an embattled Henman apparently looked away from the umpire up to the BBC commentary box for guidance -- and got it. Henman was leading Lleyton Hewitt 2-1 in the final set on Saturday and was within a point of taking the fourth game to deuce on his serve when he struck a shot that was called "good" by the base linesman. Hewitt screamed in protest. A split-second later, the linesman reversed his decision. Emmanuel Messina, the umpire, upheld the delayed call but Henman, riled, looked up to the BBC box where Chris Bailey and John Lloyd, two close acquaintances, were commentating. Lloyd, the former British No 1 and Davis Cup coach, is believed to have signalled that the call was wrong: the ball had touched the back of the line. This prompted Henman to demand to see Thomas Karlberg, the match supervisor, but the latter said he could do nothing to influence line calling. "Are you saying they (the commentators) are lying to me?" Henman asked, but to no avail. He lost the point, the game and the following four games to lose the match. Television pundits with their slow-motion replays are accustomed to sitting in judgment on umpire calls, but with Wimbledon only one week away the ATP, the governing body for men's tennis, is worried that commentators may have begun broadcasting their decisions to the court. The BBC is holding an investigation."...From Max "The Beast" Mirnyi blogging for the ATP: "One really funny thing had been happening several times over the last couple of days with [daughter Melanie] learning to speak and today was a "classic" one: With the support of the national football team in the World Cup so many cars in England ride with their flags attached. So, to get Melanie's attention from time to time we point our finger and say FLAG, FLAG, FLAG, so she looks and she quickly forgets whatever the problem was. Today at some point of the match when I lost a quick exchange at the net naturally the crowd started applauding my opponent (keep in mind that he is a Brit) and right after everyone stopped, and we were setting up for the next point I hear Melanie say F..K, F..K, F..K. Can you imagine?!!!! I of course kept my composure and stayed focused but I could just feel my wife turn red and get so embarrassed... Of course very few realized that our dear Melanie was pointing the finger across the court where some kids had little English flags in their hands in support of Alex [Bogdanovic]." -- Got to get a corral on that kid's Brit-hatin' complex, hyuk...Mary Pierce has pulled from Wimbledon with her ongoing foot injury...Two former Wimbledon semifinalists squared off in the Wimbledon qualifying Tuesday when No. 602-ranked Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson beat Aussie-Serb Jelena Dokic in three sets: "Her game is one-dimensional and it collapsed with the wind," Stevenson said of Dokic. "She was playing well at the beginning and I was surprised by it but I've got over my first hurdle -- two more and then the seven at Wimbledon." -- Nice confidence level for someone who likely won't get out of the qualifying...Andy Murray slipped on the Nottingham grass Tuesday in a win over Dmitry Tursunov injuring his Achilles, and may pull to be 100 percent fit for Wimbledon: "I slipped and felt my Achilles tendon jar," Murray said. "I thought it was bad at first, but now it just feels like it's bruised. Obviously this tournament is important, but it's not the same as playing at Wimbledon, so I asked (trainer) Bill (Norris), 'If I slip again and do the same thing, is that going to make it bad?' He said, 'Yes, possibly.' But he told me not to think about it and said I should play. I'll now take stock in the morning."...Russian Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva speaking with Tennis Week on her favorite players: "I like to watch Andy Roddick. Every time he serves, I just check the speed of the serve [laughs]. And (Andre) Agassi. I think (Marcelo) Rios was another player I liked to watch. I watched him play in Washington and I think he was a great player to watch, for me. I think he was like an actor on the court. And I love it because he was doing his show. Everybody knows it's tough to play in tennis, especially when it's 100 degrees. And he was like, performing as an actor. You can always see his emotions. He wasn't like just standing there, doing his job. You could see how he feels."...If Rafael Nadal pulls from Wimbledon mid-match with his shoulder injury, ask why he played an exo this week after pulling from an ATP event last week...Andre Agassi has committed to play L.A. in July...From Andy Roddick: "It's tough knowing that you're a better player than you were two or three years ago but not having a lot to show for it." -- That's excluding the Brad Gilbert period, we presume...Anna Kournikova tells Tennis Week she will play her fourth season of World TeamTennis, but a comeback is physically still out of the question: "I have a chronic spinal lumbar dysfunction. If I exercise a little too much it does bother me. If I start training for six hours a day on a professional level that's when it's really troubled. If I exercise one or two hours a day it doesn't bother me. I don't know how to fix that problem right now. If I knew, I would have come back and played already. World TeamTennis is very competitive, but it's a good level for me physically and personally (because it is) a very short amount of time so my back doesn't start to get bad...It's very hard to say right now. I don't know what the goal is right now. I'm just kind of taking a break and taking it a day or month at a time. Believe me, if I would know I would already make some sort of announcement or statement. As you can imagine, I get these questions all the time. Really, I want to be honest and I don't want to raise anyone's expectations or my expectations."