by Karen
I am going to start this post with a rant. I have no idea why Tennis Channel continues to exist. They have really ensured that people like me who actually have the damn thing wished there was some way to get rid of it, but alas if I do, I will probably lose a couple of channels that I actually enjoy watching.
On Day 5 of the Australian Open, the following women's matches were being played:
Pliskova vs Makarova (Margaret Court Arena) ("MCA")
Errani vs Wickmayer Hisense
Shvedova vs Peng Show Court 2) ("SC2")
On Show Court 3 was a men's match featuring Grigor Dmitrov going up against Marcos Baghdatis. It went 5 sets. During Tennis Channel's broadcast time from 7:00 p.m. Eastern until ESPN2 came on the air at 11:00 p.m., this is what Tennis Channel did:
They started their coverage with the men's match. They went full steam ahead with that match until this happened:-
RLA - Georges serves for the first set at 5-4. She lost serve. Tennis Channel goes back to the men's match. It is in the second set.
RLA - Georges and Hradecka end up in a TB. Tennis Channel goes to the TB and once that is finished they immediately leave and return to the men's match which is still in the second set. Nothing has changed. All this time we have not seen one ball hit in either MCA, H, or SC2, and believe me the match on H was a good one.
The men's match is now going into the third set. Tennis Channel takes us to H to show us Errani winning the first set. First time we are seeing this court all evening. They then go to MCA to show us the winning point of Makarova also winning the first set. All this time there is a tough tiebreaker going on over at SC2. We see one point where Peng finally wins the tiebreak.
Back to the men again. This continues all throughout the night until all the ladies' matches are completed. I don't recall ever seeing the second set of H and I know for a fact that we only got MCA because Makarova took a long time to close out the match.
During all of this we are constantly being reminded that all these ladies' matches are available on Tennis Channel Plus that you can get on your AppleTV for a subscription.
I am told by many tennis fans in the US that they refuse to subscribe to Tennis Channel Plus. Why pay subscription to watch tennis when ESPN offers the same content for free. As I don't live in the US or any of its territories, I am able to stream from the Australian Open website directly. However, this service is not offered to persons in the US.
Tennis Channel has been busy touting its App for all and sundry. It would be good if they provided better content to their tv subscribers.
Day 6 sees the top half of the draw play their third round matches. Matches on tap are:-
Rod Laver
Lepchenko v. Radwanska
Williams (S v. Svitolina
Kvitova v. Keys
Margaret Court
Williams (V) v. Giorgi
Zahlalova-Strycova v. Azarenka
Hisense
Muguruza v Bacsinszky
Vandeweghe v. Brengle
Show Court 2
Cibulkova v. Cornet
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