Wimbledon coverage
Discussion
Just watching BBC breakfast and again having to go through another segment on Wimbledon as they have evey done day for the last week or so. Good luck to Murray etc but does it justify the exposure it gets ?
I only know one person who plays the sport and I can't recall a single conversation I've had with someone talking about a game or even the sport in general. Just as a comparison cycling (a sport loads of people I know participate in either for fitness or just recreationally) gets virtually zero coverage. I appreciate that its a UK hosted event but it just seems a little strange how much coverage it gets when vey few people in reality seem to be bothered about it. Maybe i'm way off the mark and loads of people enjoy watching it, i just dont seem to know any of them.
I only know one person who plays the sport and I can't recall a single conversation I've had with someone talking about a game or even the sport in general. Just as a comparison cycling (a sport loads of people I know participate in either for fitness or just recreationally) gets virtually zero coverage. I appreciate that its a UK hosted event but it just seems a little strange how much coverage it gets when vey few people in reality seem to be bothered about it. Maybe i'm way off the mark and loads of people enjoy watching it, i just dont seem to know any of them.
oddball1313 said:
Just watching BBC breakfast and again having to go through another segment on Wimbledon as they have evey done day for the last week or so. Good luck to Murray etc but does it justify the exposure it gets ?
I only know one person who plays the sport and I can't recall a single conversation I've had with someone talking about a game or even the sport in general. Just as a comparison cycling (a sport loads of people I know participate in either for fitness or just recreationally) gets virtually zero coverage. I appreciate that its a UK hosted event but it just seems a little strange how much coverage it gets when vey few people in reality seem to be bothered about it. Maybe i'm way off the mark and loads of people enjoy watching it, i just dont seem to know any of them.
Pretty much my sentiments, I find tennis roughly on a par with cricket, which just makes my eyes glaze over as I scramble for the remote if I accidentally come across it on T.V.I only know one person who plays the sport and I can't recall a single conversation I've had with someone talking about a game or even the sport in general. Just as a comparison cycling (a sport loads of people I know participate in either for fitness or just recreationally) gets virtually zero coverage. I appreciate that its a UK hosted event but it just seems a little strange how much coverage it gets when vey few people in reality seem to be bothered about it. Maybe i'm way off the mark and loads of people enjoy watching it, i just dont seem to know any of them.
In retrospect, tennis is probably not as boring as cricket, but it does nothing for me.
Still, that's just me, if others like it, good luck to them, I hope that they enjoy it, cricket too.
Conversely, if I'm in New York City between October and April, I do my utmost to catch the Rangers playing ice hockey at Madison Square Gardens, fast moving and exciting, but it no doubt leaves British tennis fans cold, (pun unintended).
Chacun à son goût.
OP it's a major sport and a lot of people watch and play it. I'm a reasonable club player and play four or five times every week. There are pro tournaments taking place most of the year, but apart from Wimbledon and Queens, year end finals,and a small bit of the French, fans don't get much too coverage unless you have Sky.
I'm sure the BBC wouldn't cover as heavily if there wasn't the fan base.
I went to the men's semi final last year, federer/raonic murray/berdych. What an atmosphere.
Thousands of people dead quite, then in full shouting mode. I attend when I can and And have been a few times to queens and atp finals at the O2 too.
It's a great individual sport where everyone is an athlete with the same equipment, and equal chances, just like F1...... oh... hang on a minute
I'm sure the BBC wouldn't cover as heavily if there wasn't the fan base.
I went to the men's semi final last year, federer/raonic murray/berdych. What an atmosphere.
Thousands of people dead quite, then in full shouting mode. I attend when I can and And have been a few times to queens and atp finals at the O2 too.
It's a great individual sport where everyone is an athlete with the same equipment, and equal chances, just like F1...... oh... hang on a minute
oddball1313 said:
Just as a comparison cycling (a sport loads of people I know participate in either for fitness or just recreationally) gets virtually zero coverage.
Eurosport/ITV3 or 4? tends to have reasonably coverage, but the trouble is cycling is fairly boring as a spectator sport. I sometimes watch some road cycling and am quite happy to watch the scenery go by, but you can pretty much fast forward to the end and not miss much action. Plus if you don't understand it then it you have no idea what's going on. Same with mountain biking/bmx/etc. Plus other than Chris Frome there are no household names for the non-enthusiast (ignoring those which crop up for a couple of weeks every 4 years ).Tennis on the other hand is comparatively easy to understand, so even if you don't play or only have a casual interest you can figure out what's going on. And it tends to have more year round press coverage so more easily recognisable names.
Saying that, British tennis is on a high at the moment, if that were to change and the partisan crowd had no serious contender to cheer on then I imagine coverage would be scaled back slightly.
It's not that I think the Tour de France should be on instead (I know it's on Eurosport & ITV4 and enjoy the highlights) but I just think the BBC coverage seems a little OTT given what I perceive to be a minimally participated sport in this country at least. If I'm wrong then happy to be corrected.
Not into watching cricket, F1, football or Rugby either what it's worth.
Not into watching cricket, F1, football or Rugby either what it's worth.
oddball1313 said:
Just watching BBC breakfast and again having to go through another segment on Wimbledon as they have evey done day for the last week or so. Good luck to Murray etc but does it justify the exposure it gets ?
I only know one person who plays the sport and I can't recall a single conversation I've had with someone talking about a game or even the sport in general. Just as a comparison cycling (a sport loads of people I know participate in either for fitness or just recreationally) gets virtually zero coverage. I appreciate that its a UK hosted event but it just seems a little strange how much coverage it gets when vey few people in reality seem to be bothered about it. Maybe i'm way off the mark and loads of people enjoy watching it, i just dont seem to know any of them.
I play tennis a lot and run in the same circle of people who watch and play it a lot.I only know one person who plays the sport and I can't recall a single conversation I've had with someone talking about a game or even the sport in general. Just as a comparison cycling (a sport loads of people I know participate in either for fitness or just recreationally) gets virtually zero coverage. I appreciate that its a UK hosted event but it just seems a little strange how much coverage it gets when vey few people in reality seem to be bothered about it. Maybe i'm way off the mark and loads of people enjoy watching it, i just dont seem to know any of them.
Wimbledon like the Olympics is one of the premier events left on the BBC so it's a big thing.
Although tennis matches can run on for 2-3 hours in slams, cycling events like the Tour de France run even longer so it's taking a lot of airtime.
languagetimothy said:
OP it's a major sport and a lot of people watch and play it. I'm a reasonable club player and play four or five times every week. There are pro tournaments taking place most of the year, but apart from Wimbledon and Queens, year end finals,and a small bit of the French, fans don't get much too coverage unless you have Sky.
I'm sure the BBC wouldn't cover as heavily if there wasn't the fan base.
Whilst that's true and if they were showing games then I'd understand.I'm sure the BBC wouldn't cover as heavily if there wasn't the fan base.
But during this morning's breakfast show the biggest highlight they seemed to be able to show was a guy getting stuck in a rain poncho!
That's hardly a newsworthy item that people need a summary of in the morning.
skilly1 said:
Much better than the horrendous football that covers our screen and news all year round.
Couldn't agree more... one of my favourite times of year this, I only wish that Wimbledon and the TdF didn't clash as I really struggle to know which to watch!It's also the main topic of conversation around my office this week and the first time the TV in our kitchen has been turned on in months!
oddball1313 said:
what I perceive to be a minimally participated sport in this country at least. If I'm wrong then happy to be corrected.
A quick google shows a Sports England stats page reporting circa 400,000 playing tennis on an at least a once a week basis in the UK in 2015-16. Not sure that fits in with your belief of it being a minimally participated sport? Football has 1.8M people per week playing for comparison.I like Wimbledon. The coverage is superb imo alongside the great insight given by the decent commentators and presenters they have covering the championship.
It's only for two weeks isn't it? And there are loads of other channels. I'm no fan of the world's most tedious sport (cycling) but I don't begrudge them putting it on the TV when it's the TdF etc. Or the London Marathon.
I'm big into tennis now but when I wasn't about 3 years ago, I didn't care that it was on TV.
I'm big into tennis now but when I wasn't about 3 years ago, I didn't care that it was on TV.
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