tennis

http://www.humsurfer.com/view/atp-tennis-free-live-video-streaming-atp-open-13-marseille

Good news, think I found a replacement website for free live video streaming of tennis matches - weblink above (think they took it off eurosport.com unfortunately). Well, unfortunately, looks like this'll be the week where a great women's tournament is going on with no one to watch :-) (coverage doesn't start til Sat. on the Tennis channel unfortunately). The Qatar Open is actually a Tier I event, and pretty much everyone is there who's anyone (except for Vaidisova, Serena, and Henin). Unfortunately, looks like perhaps a few of the young kids have perhaps hit a wall - Szavay just got blown away by the old woman Sugiyami somehow (7-6, 6-0) in the 1st round - sheesh - and Cornet lost in the 1st round in Bogota, and Safarova lost yesterday in the 1st round in Qatar. And incredibly, Kutzy is the No. 1 seed with Henin not here - like anyone thinks she's going to win the tournament - not :-).

As for the men, nice to see the younger Nishikori come through on Sun. - thought he played intelligently by mixing speeds, etc. - to keep Blake off balance (after a great semi win over Querry where he saved a total of 4 match points - including 3 in a row in the 3rd-set tie-break; and also had to win 8 total matches to win the tournament since he was a qualifier as well). And, of course, Blake does what all the stupid American men do (e.g., Roddick, Querry, Isner, etc.) - just rely on a big serve and forehand, and always beatable when the serve isn't going that well - as they all have subpar backhands and return of serve which always makes it a low-margin for error to win against decent opponents. Actually think of the veteran American guys (e.g., Roddick, Blake, Ginepri, etc.) - that Ginepri is capable of being the best one since he has the best all-around game, but seems to have mentally lost it unfortunately (was up to remember him having nice wins over Haas, etc. back in the day, but those days seem long over. And nice to see Murray win in Europe as well - thought he was perhaps done after crashing and burning late last year, but maybe it was good for him to get rid of Gilbert :-). And lots of upsets so far in Rotterdam - Baggy, Ferrer, and Robredo have all already lost; and should be interesting in San Jose (although Young has lost again in the 1st round); Nishikori plays Roddick in the 2nd round - oh well, guess he didn't win his tournament in time to get a draw placement and more respect :-).

latest tennis buzz

http://www.sport.be/proximusdiamondgames/2008/eng/#

Oh well - Szavay wasn't ready for prime-time as I unfortunately kind of expected. Hopefully she'll be ready next time - but put up a decent fight against Chakvetadze. Kind of amazing how someone so young and only 1 year older (20 to 19 yrs. old for Szavay) can seem so much more mature, poised, etc. But the tennis channel does have some good tournaments coming up - Proximus Diamonds this week, then Delray, and then Dubai when everyone comes out for the duty-free money :-). Kind of get the feeling this is Sharapova's season to lose - if she plays like she did at the Australian consistently, no one can touch her, otherwise it'll probably be Henin again. As for the men, definitely interested to see if Federer can get back on track at Dubai, and to see if Tsonga can be more than a one tournament wonder, and whether anyone else new can break through (e.g., gasquet, murray, young, etc.). And who cares about the tennis channel tournament - sheesh - can you get a weaker lineup (e.g., Isner, Hewitt, etc.). Also, looks like you can get a live video stream from proximus tournament - weblink above. And it was interesting during the Szavay-Chaky broadcast, the commentators brought up a point I had thought about before - what's up with all of the 1st round byes for the top 4 seeds - sheesh. They don't have to show up til Thurs. really, and the just do 4 days of work for a big pay day :-). The commentators mentioned that the lower-ranked players are complaining about all of these byes since it's taking away spots from them to get into the tournament. But the tour does it since it says that the top players have all of these other obligations being ambassadors of the sport (e.g., pr work, interviews, etc.) so they can't be expected to make it on mon. for the 1st round all the time - and the tour wants them out there promoting the sport. So guess it's kind of a catch 22 - think I'd cut down it to just 2 byes (for the top 2 seeds); this 4 top seed bye thing is too much - especially when they're for people named Hantuchova, Schnyder, etc. - people who definitely don't deserve a bye :-).

tennis channel

Oh well - looks like the tennis channel has sold out to men's tennis like the
major networks (e.g., CBS, USA, NBC, and ESPN); but won't admit it. Just
called them to complain why they weren't showing more coverage of the women's
tournament this weekend (paz de france) when they showed around 2 or 3 rounds
last year (at least from the semi's), and they're only showing the finals this
weekend. And gave kind of a very weak explanation - said they didn't have
room since they're showing 2 davis cup ties this weekend (US vs. Austria, and
Russia v. Serbia) - sheesh - does anyone care that much (especially since it's
the 1st round - could understand if it's at least the semis). No argument if
they kept the same coverage, but you can't reduce the coverage. Probably has
something to do with no big stars being in it (e.g., no Williams' sisters, no
Henin, etc.); but at least want to see the kids (e.g., Cornet, Szvay, etc.),
but oh well. Told him point blank I guess that men's tennis makes more money,
but wouldn't admit it - kept saying they're showing a lot of women's matches
this year. Uh huh, but then you're only showing one match this weekend -
sheesh. Oh well, think tennis channel is not my favorite channel anymore.
But at least they're showing the Antwerp matches next weekend - and don't
think they showed that tournament last year.