Australian Tennis Season

[willedoo]

I was wondering if anyone has been watching the Hopman Cup, and if so, what the broadcast quality is like. There's never been a problem with channel 7 but with the changeover to 9 it's not looking good. Where I am, it's broadcast on 9 Gem and the quality is comparable to watching an old VHS video. In fact it's so fuzzy, it's virtually unwatchable. I'm hoping the Australian Open will be on 9HD but haven't been able to find out yet if it is.

 

Surely the whole season won't be broadcast like that. They'd lose a few hundred thousand viewers and a lot of future sponsorship if that's the case. Hopefully they're just having a few teething problems.

 

 

[red750]

Doesn't look too bad on GEM here in Melbourne, Willie, but I'm no expert.

 

My son is off to Hobart next Saturday to be linesman at the Hobart International, then back to Melbourne Tuesday night to start his 17th Oz Open. Hate the black uniforms - what a colour to choose for Melbourne's hot January days.

 

 

[willedoo]

Thanks Peter. My version of it is fairly bad. The player at the far end of the court doesn't even have any facial features, that's how bad the resolution is. I'll give it a couple of days and see what happens. If it doesn't improve, I might make some enquiries. The channel 7 broadcast quality was always good; you could make an accurate call on where the ball landed, but with Gem here, you can barely see the ball. I'll try re-tuning the tv and see if that helps.

 

 

[Cosmick]

Had a look last night, very average resolution.

 

 

[willedoo]

I re-tuned and had another look today and it's still bad. Might not be watching much tennis this year; the resolution is so poor that it's not pleasant viewing.

 

 

[spacesailor]

I noticed it in Sydney.

 

Just gave it away, changed channels, then switched off. Goodnight to ALL.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[willedoo]

Nine seems to be going from bad to worse. At the moment they are broadcasting the Fast Four matches which is ok. They have two other channels and have decided to show the American sitcom 'Friends' and not broadcast the singles matches of probably the two most popular Australian players, Alex de Minaur and Daria Gavrilova . It's great for fans of that sitcom, but a big middle finger to Australia's tennis fans from channel nine.

 

I just hope they do a better job at the Australian Open.

 

 

[red750]

The Hobart tournament is not being covered, on the mainland anyway.

 

 

[willedoo]

There they go again. Bloody Channel Nine. Play in Sydney has been stopped due to rain.

 

It never rained when 7 had the rights.

 

 

[Litespeed]

Meanwhile back at the ranch.......

 

Ash Barty flogged world no 1 Halep today. Go Ashley.

 

 

 

[spacesailor]

Didn't she do well.

 

Sydney forecast rain, So I was expecting an interruption.

 

I don't like having the two Aussie's Tomic & Kyrgios playing against each other.

 

Guaranteed An Aussie will Loose & Win.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[Litespeed]

Yes but tennis and Australia always seem to lose when either plays.

 

The poster boys of overplayed and over sized ego.

 

And what's with the under leg serve?

 

Sportsmanship is not in their vocabulary.

 

 

[spacesailor]

They played it "THEIR WAY",

 

And the audience lost.

 

"Not Happy Jan".

 

Spacesailor

 

 

[red750]

My son was on Rod Laver Arena in the Wawrinka -Raonic match. Had to watch four hours (including rain break) to get a couple of glimpses. He was centre line umpire at the end most of the telecast is made from, so was underneath the cameras, I recorded four hours, edited down to 10 kinutes, to get these images photographed from the telly.

 

Behind Wawrinka

 

[ATTACH]49781._xfImport[/ATTACH]

 

Behind Raonic. The hat was before the rain delay, the cap after.

 

[ATTACH]49782._xfImport[/ATTACH]

 

[spacesailor]

Well at least you got a picture or two.

 

My Grandkid never got in front of the camera, at the school sport carnival, alway some favorite of the teacher,

 

And when the favorite came second, the winner was accused of cheating,

 

Not what you know, but who you know.

 

Grandson came second at NSW sport chamionship, gymnastic's, made a 10 score.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[Yenn]

It seems Leyton Hewitt is in trouble again. Not liked by some of the players. He has always seemed to me to be a one shot expert. I saw him win at Wimbledon on British TV, but I cannot recall him winning any other big event. Does anyone know what he has won over the years.

 

I think that in winning Wimbledon he knocked out Andy Murray, But I also recall that Murray has had some later wins.

 

 

[Litespeed]

I would back Leyton as Davis cup captain over Tomic the angry nutjob any day. I agree he should never be in the team.

 

Even a small amount of decency is just too hard for Bernie's ego. Makes Kyrios look sensible.

 

 

[willedoo]

It seems Leyton Hewitt is in trouble again. Not liked by some of the players. He has always seemed to me to be a one shot expert. I saw him win at Wimbledon on British TV, but I cannot recall him winning any other big event. Does anyone know what he has won over the years.I think that in winning Wimbledon he knocked out Andy Murray, But I also recall that Murray has had some later wins.

Lleyton is a former world No.1. He's won 30 singles titles and 3 doubles titles. In Grand Slam matches, he's won singles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open. Titles aside, he's had more than 500 career match wins.

 

 

[spacesailor]

Willedoo.

 

But is there any truth in Tomic's accusations !.

 

I like him & Beky

 

spacesailor

 

 

[willedoo]

As John McEnroe said yesterday, politics and sport aren't a good mix.

 

Our thumbs up, fair dinkum grinning leader, Scomo, was at the Ash Barty / Maria Sharapova match yesterday with his wife and kids. On the face of it, all good politics - the PM out and about showing the nation he's just an ordinary bloke like us. But then he was interviewed by channel 9 and that went well until the interviewer tried to wrap it up. Scomo wasn't going quietly, he started to rapidly blurt out (they call it announce) his government's plans for all this brand new funding to encourage more women in sport. Gee, what a surprise. What was supposed to be good politics and PR was just embarrassing to watch. It made him look desperate.

 

So he stayed on for the Federer / Tsitsipas match. At one stage the cameraman zoomed in on a close up of Scomo with his trademark permanent tetanus victim like grin. When his face came up on the big screen, half the crowd started booing. Needless to say, the cameraman didn't do that again. John McEnroe had to ask the other commentator what they were booing at; he thought it was something on court that he'd missed. When it was explained to him, he made the comment about politics and sport.

 

If Scomo got a clear majority of 51% not booing, he would think the day wasn't wasted.

 

But aside from that, it was a good day. Go Ashleigh....

 

 

[spacesailor]

"The Federer / Tsitsipas match"

 

Didn't he, Tsitsipas do well, Kept thinking Federer is going to send in the Aces, But it didn't happen !. or tsitsipas took them without blinking.

 

New King of the court.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[willedoo]

Totally agree, spacey. Stefanos Tsitsipas deserves to go all the way. It's good to see a young 20 year take on the greats. He seems to be a very likeable character as well. I hope he wins it. With the huge Greek population in Melbourne, he'll always draw the crowd support when he plays here.

 

He seemed to stop Federer from playing his usual game. Most times when Fed put his usual winning shots right out on the line, Tsitsipas was banging them straight back. Had Roger scratching his head I think.

 

 

[Litespeed]

I say we swap him for Kyrios as he is Greek heritage. Even if he never won a game again it would be a good deal.

 

 

[willedoo]

Well Ash Barty bowed out but at least she got to the quarters for the first time. When she lost to Petra Kivitova in Sydney it was as close as it gets in women's tennis, a 7/6 tie break in the third set. I think Petra thought she could lose to Ash in the quarter final so she came out swinging with everything she had. It's a credit to Ash.

 

 

[Yenn]

Ash Barty won at Roland Gaross or whatever it is called. Now I would like to see her made coach of Australias mens cricket team. Some of her ability would possibly develop a team that could play decent cricket. Not the "its just not cricket" that they seem to be able to get away with.