Excited and Deflated: TennisTV-yes, Jerzy-no

Written by: Tennischiro on 11th March 2013

Excited and Deflated: TennisTV-yes, Jerzy-no

epa03583741 Richard Gasquet from France in action against Marcos Baghdatis from Cyprus during their second round match of the ATP ABN AMRO tennis tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands, 14 February 2013. Baghdatis won 6-4 and 6-4. EPA/KOEN SUYK |

Well, I broke down today and made my commitment to renew my TennisTV subscription. Last year this time I was able to bring you my courtside perspective on the BNP Paribas tournament. I wasn’t able to make the trip this year and I am really disappointed to miss the unveiling of all the new features at the continuously upgrading and improving Indian Wells site. If there is anyway you can get out to see this event in person, go.

But if, like me, you couldn’t get there, there is great coverage of the event on ESPN and the Tennis Channel. But better yet, the video player provided by TennisTV has been improved and I think the improvements are an absolute game changer. I don’t get either the Tennis Channel or ESPN so I rely on the online feed from TennisTV. Even if I did get those channels, I think I would prefer to watch the matches of my choosing on TennisTV at my leisure with no commercial interruptions.

I am so excited about the new TennisTV player because now, not only can you pick the match of your choice and with the “Catch Up” feature watch the match at the time of your choosing, but you can also employ some new features that the TennisTV player makes available to you.

Here are a few of the features that they have added:

1. You can watch 1, 2 or 4 matches at a time.

2. You can pull up the stats for all the Masters1000 matches. And it appears that this is not just for the live matches, but also for archived matches in the “Catch Up” section.

3. You can pull up the schedule of available matches that are being broadcast live as well as the matches in the “Catch Up” archive and pull those matches you want to watch directly from the schedule to your playback screens.

4. When you have more than one match displayed, you only get the audio or stats from one of the matches you have designated, but you can switch back and forth from one match to the other and see how the stats are changing when you are watching live matches.

But most of all and what I am really excited about, there is a 10 second rewind or forward jump button. If you see a point you really like, just hit that button a couple of times and you get to see that 20 seconds all over again. Furthermore, if you are watching a recorded match, you can jump through the dead time between points with a couple of clicks of that 10 second advance button. Get interrupted by a call you have to take during a match, just hit the pause button and you can pick it up as soon you are ready. If it is a live match, you can probably catch back up to the live broadcast by hitting that advance button between points. To me this is a truly awesome feature. I’m already figuring out how I have to rearrange my living room and install a big screen connected to my computer so I can do playbacks of some of these great matches in the “Catch Up” section for my students. What a great asset for anyone trying to learn from these great players. Now if the programmers at TennisTV can go one step further and allow us to play small bits of the video in slow motion and blow up sections of the screen like I do with some of my video software so we can see grip changes and other minor details… well, probably not, but I can dream. In any case, this 10 second jump forward and back function is a tremendous addition.

The reason I reenrolled in TennisTV today was I really wanted to see Jerzy Janowicz’s match with Richard Gasquet today. I picked him at the beginning of the year to be one of the big stories of this season. He had a good win Saturday against David Nalbandian so things were looking promising, but the match today was disappointing for me. Jerzy has had a reasonable start to the year. He’s certainly made his share of missteps including going nuts over a call against Devvarman in the second round at the Australian, but he did win that match. And while he lost to Almagro in the next round, he had a set point in the first set and a key break point in the second set; on both points he missed routine backhand volleys. Two easy backhand volleys from two sets up for a round of 16 berth at the Australian against an opponent who withdrew in the second set. Then just a few weeks ago he was a tie-breaker away from upsetting Tomas Berdych in Marseilles. So I was hoping for significant signs of progress in Jerzy’s game today against the stylish Frenchman.

Unfortunately, those indicators were not present. There is no question Jerzy’s weapons continue to be good enough to do damage against the best in the world. But there is no sign of progress in his decision making on which weapons to use or when. One of the things that really impressed me in his run to the finals of Paris where he beat 5 top 20 players including 2 top tenners, was the way he finished points at the net. But today against Gasquet, often when he clearly had gained the upper hand in the point, instead of going forward to finish he repeatedly hesitated or retreated from a forward position back to the baseline. He moves well for a man of his height, but he will not flourish by putting his movement skills up against players like Gasquet. When he tries to hit ridiculous winners from behind the baseline, he looks like just another flash in the pan up from the challenger circuit. When he plays within himself and uses his tremendous levers to attack and open the court and finish by going forward, he looks like the real deal. On top of that he had a dismal 41% first serve percentage (50% in the first set and just 37% in the second). On top of that he came out serving many first serves in the teens when he routinely hits serves well into the 130’s. Gasquet responded exactly as you would expect winning 20 of the first 25 points.

Somehow I never got the sense Janowicz engaged Gasquet in the struggle as he must. I was recently trying to explain to one of my inexperienced junior players that tennis is a struggle against an opponent. You must feel like you are almost participating in hand to hand combat. It is not a game where you just go out and “hit your shots” or “play your game”. Good players learn to win with whatever they have working on a given day. They make their opponents play their most uncomfortable shots. Jerzy’s special gifts will make him a force with which anyone outside of the top 50 in the world will have difficulty; that’s why I was so pleased to see him beat a player of Nalbandian’s stature. David may not have the ranking he had a couple of years ago, but he is still someone who can not simply be knocked aside by a couple of big shots. You have to play tennis to beat the crafty Argentinian who is one of the best strikers of the ball in the game over the last 10 years. Jerzy dropped two key service games in the first set against Nalbandian and yet he was able to hold on and win that set and the third.

My little junior player came back to me the next week after our little talk and said she began to feel what I was talking about in her tournament matches that weekend. This last weekend she did even better and made further progress winning a couple of matches. I have yet to see that kind of progress in the mental and tactical aspects of Jerzy’s game. I certainly didn’t see it at all today against Gasquet. I saw the weapons. Oh, indeed you can’t miss the weapons. There were actually some great exchanges. But without direction, those weapons look like Saddam Hussein’s tanks rusting in the desert! I hope Jerzy gets the help he needs to turn those shiny weapons into a real force. Tennis could use a fresh new force. And I need some positive Jerzy moments on which I can use the TennisTV replay button a couple of times.

Topics: Bnp Paribas, Jerzy Janowicz, Richard Gasquet, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych