(April 1, 2013) NEW YORK, NY – Kourtin’ Karen takes brief look at the week that was week in the offbeat world of tennis.
15-0
Big media there or not, a tournament does exist.
“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
If a tournament takes place on the East Coast and many West Coast tennis media and some international tennis media don’t show up, did it really happen?
Answer – yes. This was the case at the Sony Open this last fortnight.
Sure, I’ll admit probably not all of the tennis media that could have been in Miami were there to cover it due to various issues – March Madness, media budgets and the lack of the presence of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Yes, the NCAA tournament. No way would mainstream media outlets take money out of their budgets or space our of their papers to cover tennis during March Madness. NCAA coverage sells more papers, gets TV ratings – tennis doesn’t.
Tennis is not what it once was in terms of most mainstream media covering tournaments each and every week. As you have probably heard, the newspaper industry is dying. Magazines are dying. so tennis fans have to depend on what I call “specialized” media to follow their favorite sport – such as Tennis Channel and more importantly the internet – from established media websites to independent websites blogs and twitter. We live in an internet world and two-day old news will not cut it for tennis fans.
So what’s the point, you ask? Whether all of the established tennis media powers are there or not, one of the major non-majors did take place.
15-15
Tennis dropped for NCAA
CBS pulled out of it’s coverage of the Sony Open Men’s final between David Ferrer and Andy Murray before the third set tiebreak to air the NCAA Regional final between Michigan and Florida on Sunday afternoon. Murray won the tiebreak 7-1.
“We stayed with tennis as long as we could,” said a CBS spokeswoman.
CBS pays $25 million annually for the US Open. With Turner they pay $771 million annually for men’s NCAA Tournament rightsThere ya go haha
— Mardy Fish (@MardyFish) March 31, 2013
30-15
Back to No. 2
With his title in Miami, Andy Murray moved up tot he No. 2 ranking passing Roger Federer.
Jelena Jankovic
30-30
Jelena Jankovic upset with scheduling
Jelena Jankovic had a short turnaround before her quarterfinal match against Maria Sharapova. The Serb played a night match and had to play Sharapova at 1 p.m. the next day. Jankovic was destroyed by the Russian, winning a mere three games.
“The girls who play tonight at 7, they had a day off yesterday,” Jankovic said. “So it was kind of crazy. I had a couple of hours of sleep, and then I had to be back on the court. I played four matches, only had one day off. Last night, couple hours of sleep. So it wasn’t easy, but what can I do?
“I wish it was a little different. I wish I had a little more time to recover and be in better shape for today. It would give me a much better chance to play better, but it was the way it was. Like I said, Maria was playing very well. But like I said, the opponent plays as well as you let her. I didn’t do what I wanted to do and complicate things on the court.”
Serena Williams (c) Kevin Ware for Tennis Panorama News
40-30
Serena Williams captures record 6th Sony Open
Serena Williams Mounts Comeback for Record 6th Miami Title
Deuce
Bellucci Beats Janowicz in Raucous Match in Miami
Advantage
Tommy Haas
The soon-to-be 35 year-old pulled off the upset of the Sony Open by dominating No. 1 Novak Djokovic in a windy night session match. He also took out seeded Gilles Simon on his way to the semifinals of Miami where he fell to David Ferrer in three sets.
Haas who achieved his highest ATP ranking in 2002 when he reached No. 2, breaks in to top 15 for the first time 2008.
Game, Set, Match and shot of the tournament!
Agnieszka Radwanka’s no-look backhand volley winner.