Tennis Replay Adds Spice

Thursday’s Andy Roddick v David Ferrer match got a little juice from the video replay challenge in the third set when Roddick challenged a call that was clearly out, but hoped against hope might be in to turn the tide in his three-set loss to the Spaniard. When the replay came up “out” and the pro-Spaniards in the crowd started cheering, Ferrer gestered toward Roddick as if to say “There! Stop your complaining and take the loss like a man!”ADHEREL

Perhaps some day soon the techno-perfectionists will get their wish, and every court at a tournament will be wired and a red or green light will beep when a ball is out of in, and there will be no need for humans calling the lines — but until then we can enjoy the extra interaction, suspense and personality the line-calling technology brings out in the players.

The highlight of roddick’s post-match conference was Andy answering a question about being caped out 10 feet behind the baseline, and answering to the effect that “Yeah, I looked back on the films when I was No. 1 in the world, and I WAS PLAYING 15 FEET BEHIND THE BASELINE!”