Editors Note : Doubles in tennis is awesome. Men’s dubs. Ladies dubs. Even mixed doubles. Which is a dangerous game @ the pro level. But if the “undertakers ” keep depriving us of viewing the sport it seems it doesn’t matter how wonderful and exciting the players and matches are. 10sballs.com is a forum that will never stop cheering for doubles. John Mac got fairly well spanked by the Bryan Bros on the court. It would be nice if he ate his words.
The Bryan brothers and Bruno Soares, who reached the finals of the men’s doubles at Miami, have called for ATP doubles finals to be televised online.
There was no internet or television coverage of the men’s doubles final in Miami, which was won by the Bryans over the Colombian team of Robert Farah and Soares.
“Today would have been nice if the match was at least live streaming on the Internet, especially that one, a big final. It’s a Masters 1000, two marquee teams, and it was great tennis,” said Mike Bryan.
The stands were largely full for the match, said the top-ranked doubles team, with their Colombian opponents receiving heavy support from the South American fans who are always a large presence at the tournament.
“It doesn’t have to be on Tennis Channel or ESPN or anything, but just to have a live stream. Having the cameras rolling would have been nice,” added Mike Bryan. “It’s tough in the U.S. to have that go out to a major network, but I know a TV station in Colombia would have picked it up.”
Even a webcam, often used for challenger coverage, could be used, they suggested.
“It’s criminal there is not a camera in the back just rolling, live stream taping,” said Bob Bryan. “It doesn’t take much. I’ll pay for the videotape. You know, I’ll put my friend back there with the camera or whatever.”
He plans to bring it up with the ATP. “I think that has to be done at the player council levels,” he stated. You know, we have to have a vote to get that mandatory, especially Masters 1000 level.
“I have to talk to our player reps, and we’ve got to get a vote because doubles gets swept under the rug a little too often,
especially in times like this where it could help out the popularity.
The Bryans were coming off also winning the title at Indian Wells, where they said doubles was better promoted.
Indian Wells reportedly paid for extra matches, including WTA matches, to be televised during the tournament.
The Bryans are convinced that the type of promotion given to doubles at Indian Wells, where many top singles players also enter the doubles draw, would help its popularity, saying, “They have an announcer on every court giving great bios, pumping up the crowd, and it seems like they are usually very good about streaming it on the Internet.
“Tennis Channel covered the finals, and there were a lot of doubles matches on center court, which is always big for our game. Just try to get more tournaments behind it.”
Content Via Bob Larson.
Topics: 10sballs, Atp, Bruno Soares, Bryan Brothers, Doubles, Miami, Tennis News