THE SCOOP: WIMBLEDON, DAY 11

Who's on first: US television out of synch with reality

By Ron Cioffi
tennisreporters.net

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc.

It's hard to believe that 10 straight hours of TV tennis coverage in the US can be anything but glorious. But, on Thursday, it was frustrating.

NBC and ESPN decided to bring their own brand of time warp into their usually sterling coverage. The transposition of time and presentation was like pulling a tortoise out of a magician's hat instead of a rabbit.

The best match of the day was Serena Williams versus Justine Henin-Hardenn. Was it telecast live? No way.

ESPN began the morning with five hours of coverage, starting at 7 a.m. Eastern time. After a rain delay, the network showed the Andy Roddick's win over Jonas Bjorkman, ignoring the Williams/Henin-Hardenne match that was running concurrently. When the women's match was finally aired beginning at noon Eastern time on NBC, Serena had already won the match, 6-3, 6-2.

Of course, the ESPN announcers and running-results graphic at the bottom of the screen during the morning couldn't reveal the progress of the women's semifinal to protect the fans who would see it later on NBC.

ESPN was lucky enough to air the wrap-up of the suspended Sebastien Grosjean/Tim Henman match in its last hour on air. Then the network showed much of the fifth-set of the Mark Philippoussis versus Alexander Popp. But, as the tight last set was getting close to its climax, ESPN went off the air.

On comes NBC, which went straight to the tape of the Williams/Henin-Hardenne match. Neither network carried the conclusion of the Philippoussis/Popp fifth set live. (NBC didn't show it until after 3 p.m. Eastern time.)

What's a tennis junkie to do to find out that Philippoussis won, 8-6?

Like many fans, I ran to my computer and followed the Philippoussis/Popp match on the Internet via Wimbledon's real-time scoreboard. But, in doing so, I found out that Serena crushed Justine. And Kim Clijsters won the first set over Venus Williams before the rain came. This news just spoiled watching the matches on TV during the afternoon.

LIFE ON TAPE-DELAY
It's hard to fault the networks for their efforts. For instance, American fans can see both star players – Andy and Serena – even though spectators at the Big W couldn't see both matches running at the same time.

On busy days at Grand Slams, TV will often jump between important matches … sort of like banging the remote's last channel button for you. (This is how golf is covered on the tube.) This strategy gives tennis fans more of an immediate, newsy feel to the tournament. The downside is you never see a match in its entirety.

However, the Internet and instant news makes tape-delay a tricky and nearly deceitful practice. Announcers are suppressed and on-screen graphics with scores are snipped so viewers really don't know what's happening on other courts. TV viewers play along, staying away from the Internet so they can watch the match without knowing the outcome.

Sometimes, you've got to stay away from the phone, too; a tennis-crazed friend may call and shout, "Boy, Justine got her clock cleaned today" before you can tell them to shut-up-I'm-watching-the-damned-match-right-now.