Sunday, May 21, 2006

Where's the tennis?

This post doesn't have an explicitly gendered aspect, I am just pissed that there have been a myriad of tennis tournaments occurring in Europe that have not been shown on American television. And apparently I have missed some good matches including a 5-set showdown between Federer and Nadal that Nadal eked out. Apparently the chink Federer's armor is Nadal. And it seems Henin-Hardenne, a perennial clay court favorite has not been having the warm-up to the French Open that she would like. On the other hand Nadia Petrova seems to finally be realizing the potential people have been seen in her for years now.
I did check the listings and found that there is some tennis on in the wee hours--around 2:30AM my time. I do not think I will be pulling an all-nighter for that. In addition to my general annoyance that there has been no tennis on, is my concern that coverage of the French Open will again be dismal. The American-centric coverage that means watching a Williams sister match three times in the event of a rain delay rather than a 5-set thriller between a South American and a lucky loser Spaniard is just depressing. The American aversion to all things foreign (except oil and fashion) is readily apparent in the television coverage of the French. Guess I'll just have to wait and see what this year's tournament brings.

1 comment:

Diane said...

I love European clay season, but it surely is frustrating not to be able to watch it on TV. I just sit in front of the electronic scoreboards on my computer when I can and yell at the players. Not the same as yelling at them on TV.