ATP Tour Finals Coverage Could Be Better in the States

Written by: Staff on 23rd November 2011

ATP Tour Finals Coverage Could Be Better in the States

Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic reacts after winning a point against Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia during their group A match of the ATP World Tour tennis finals at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 23 November 2011. Berdych won 2-6, 6-3 and 7-6(6). EPA/KERIM OKTEN |

Put yourself back to 1977 for a moment ….Image opening up your newspaper, sipping your morning coffee and seeing great big four-column photos of Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, and the Nasty One himself staring straight at you all grimaces and contortions.

Fast forward to today and you’ll see … well, you’ll have to get out your bi-focals and search for the magnifying glass because you just won’t see a lot of coverage of the current ATP Tour World Finals going on in London.

There was not one word of the Finals mentioned in Tuesday’s sports page of the Los Angeles Times (except an agate listing in small type of results and standings) and only three sentences of a “brief” in the L.A. Daily News. On Wednesday, with two of the greatest players of all-time and of one the most historical rivalries (Federer vs. Nadal), there was a small story and photo but it was relegated to the last page of sports in the Times.

What a perfect time to play up the end-of-year matches and run a feature or more game stories with the NBA lockout and college and pro football still a few weeks away from deciding anything.

ESPN is making mention of the finals, and will even squeeze in a highlight or two if there is a great shot or storyline like Federer vs. Nadal. But it mostly Tennis Channel, Tennis Channel, Tennis Channel and surely there is one small segment of the industry who is content with that fact.

What a shame. There is not much that can be done to get more coverage of the world’s top eight players in the year-end finals in today’s daily newspapers. Our sport deserves better, but don’t even waste your time calling in complaints to the local sports editor as they will likely go unheard and fall on deaf ears.

It would be nice if America’s daily newspapers took notice of the finals and played them up, splashing them on top of other stories about alleged child molestation charges and point shaving scandals. But that might be too much to ask for a dying breed, a business model that comes out 12 hours after the fact and is scooped by the hundreds and thousands Facebook and Twitter updates out there.

It will not be long now before you never receive a daily newspaper on the front porch; soon you will forget the sound of the “th-wack” as it hits the doorstep. It’s a shame, indeed. But that time is coming.

Djokovic Stunned By Ferrer: David Ferrer couldn’t have picked a better time to have the best match of his season, sending Novak Djokovic home with his head held low on Wednesday following the fifth-seeded Spaniard’s 6-3, 6-1 win and a spot in the semifinals.

Djokovic even said afterward it was the worst match he’s played all season. Opposite for Ferrer, who said, “I think today maybe was my best match of the season.”

“I just wasn’t there,” said Djokovic, the dominating player on tour all year. “It was the worst match I’ve played this season so far definitely.”

Djokovic is still alive, however, although he will need to beat fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic on Friday. “If I don’t play at least 50 percent better than I did tonight, I don’t think I’ll have any chance,” he said. “You always hope that tomorrow will bring something better. That’s the way I’m thinking now.”

Thriller Goes to Berdych This Time: Seventh seed Tomas Berdych knows how Janko Tipsarevic feels. Just two days after having a match point against Novak Djokovic, Berdych saved one himself as the alternate Tipsarevic couldn’t close out their close match.

Berdych saved one match point at 5-6 in the deciding-set tie-break, to beat ninth seed Tipsarevic, a replacement for Andy Murray in Group A, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6).

“I was a bit unlucky on Monday [against Novak Djokovic],” said Berdych. “I got luckier here. Before the tie-break, I was feeling pretty good, I would say pretty confident. [The] last few games that I was serving was kind of quick [and] easy. But as long the tie-break went, it was really close.”

“I am [annoyed] about myself that I managed to make my first double fault at 6 all in the tie-break and that I completely managed to put Berdych back in the match,” Tipsarevic said. “He wasn’t playing great at the beginning, maybe because of the influence and lack of confidence that he got from losing to Djokovic with the match point up.”

Berdych is now 1-1 in Group A and will next play unbeaten David Ferrer on Friday.

Tipsarevic, who is the first alternate to appear at the year-end championship since Radek Stepanek in 2008, dropped to a 53-26 match record on the season. He is now 2-9 versus Top 10 opponents this year. He plays his compatriot Djokovic in two days time.

Bryan Bros. Get Win No. 60: Primed for a fourth year-end title, the Bryan Bros. played lights out once again on Wednesday as the top seeds rolled past No. 6 seeded Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau 6-1, 6-2 in 56 minutes.

A spot in the Group A semifinals is all but assured now for the 33-year-old California twins. The all-time winningest doubles team are now 60-14 and have won eight titles. They are started to feel right at home in London having won Wimbledon back in July.

You just cannot have a let down when you’re playing the world’s best but the Swedish Lindstedt and Romania’s Tecau did just that as the Bryans dropped just eight points on serve in the opener.

During the indoor swing leading into London, the Bryans captured back-to-back ATP World Tour titles at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna and the Valencia Open 500. They are only the second team in the Open Era to win more than 700 doubles matches.

Lindstedt and Tecau, who beat fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes on Monday, dropped to a 39-22 match record on the season (2-5 in finals).

The Bryans will face Bhupathi and Paes on Friday, while Lindstedt and Tecau complete their round-robin group matches against seventh seeds Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner. The Bryans have only once before gone unbeaten in round-robin play at Houston in 2003.

In the other doubles match on the day, fourth seeds and three-time former finalists Bhupathi and Paes beat seventh seed Melzer and Petzschner 7-5, 6-3 in Group A.

Price Money: Here is the prize money being offered this week:

Prize Money: US$ 5,070,000

Singles Doubles Team

Alternates: US$ 70,000 US$ 25,000

Participation Fee: US$ 120,000* US$ 65,000*

Round Robin Win: US$ 120,000 US$ 22,500

Semifinal Win: US$ 380,000 US$ 30,000

Final Win: US$ 770,000 US$ 125,000

Undefeated Winner: US$ 1,630,000 US$ 287,500

*Prorated on a per match basis:

US$ 70,000=1 match; US$ 30,000=1 match;

US$ 95,000=2 matches; US$ 50,000=2 matches;