Wimbledon Notes: NBC Tape-fest, Safina Defends No. 1 Rank
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Serena Williams belted 20 aces in a 2:49 win over Elena Dementieva…
ADHEREL
Venus Williams gave Dinara Safina the worst loss ever by a No. 1-ranked player…
A Williams sister will have won Wimbledon 8 of the last 9 years…
Did we mention no No. 1 has suffered as bas a loss Safina’s today?…
Venus and Serena have split their 20 previous meetings…
Venus Williams has won 35 straight sets at Wimbledon, and 20 straight matches…
Roger Federer has never lost a set in a Wimbledon semifinal…
Venus has won five of the last eight against Serena…
DEAR NBC — Dear NBC, aside from your horrendous tape-heavy coverage of Wimbledon, thank you for the live streaming the Blake-Fish men’s doubles five-set semifinal on Thursday (Blake-Fish lost 10-8 in the fifth).
The Times’ Richard Sandomir on American tennis fans having to put up with taped tennis matches while tennis is being played live: “We’ve heard for years NBC’s reasons for tape-delaying Wimbledon and the French Open: its allergy to pre-empting the “Today” show on weekday mornings and past difficulties in pre-empting Saturday morning kiddie programming or Sunday morning religious shows. It’s become so much yadda yadda yadda. I’m sure that NBC knew that those majors were played in Europe when it signed those deals. And I’m sure that it’s 2009 — technology keeps changing, and fans have little or no tolerance for sports events not shown live. NBC’s license to tape-delay matches dates to old contracts the All England Club should have changed long ago. Now, the club must require significant change. No fan should have to care that NBC’s arrangements, in its world, or with ESPN, argue against live match broadcasts.”…
I’M STILL NO. 1 — Dinara Safina after winning only one game off Venus Williams in the Wimbledon semifinals, on her No. 1 ranking: “Well, I’ve been in last four Grand Slams, I reach at least semifinal. I mean, they haven’t been in the semifinal of the French Open. I think this is the result of how you play the whole year. It’s not about one, two tournaments how you play. It’s a result of tournament by tournament, day to day that you play. I think this is the end result. I mean, it’s not like just that you focus on the Grand Slam. I won Rome. I won Madrid. I been in the final French Open. I been in the final of Australia. Yes, I haven’t won it, but this is not end of the world. But I still play consistent.”…
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