Not sure who is playing but that is Ron Morrill on the baseline and Susan Wertenberger on the sideline.
Gary Rayburn in action on the baseline.
Andy Suchower on the baseline.
"Watching Grass Grow" might have well described in the evening.
The night was great fun as she saw chair officials and linespeople for the first time and saw how hard some women can actually hit a tennis ball. She loved the flair and excitement of the show!
I thought the highlight of the evening was how well our local officials did calling lines. They looked sharp and did a fine job throughout the evening.
The chair officials on the other hand were another story. I watched four different chair officials and if I were grading them, they would get a "C" at best. One kept slouching in his chair, one couldn't get the score right, one kept trying to impress the crowd with his fake accent, and overall they were weak to say the least.
The players made a lot of noise but produced little if any quality tennis. I've seen better at college dual matches. One was so out of shape that by the second set she was wheezing in the heat... At least they wore some great outfits so that helped pass the evening.
The facility was nice--but poorly attended. In the match we were watching there were 16 people in the stands so I sure hope they had some good sponsors. The general admission bleachers weren't finished on the center court and they elected to finish the bleachers first on the side that looked directly in the sun. The ones in the shade haven't been completed yet--but hopefully will be by Sunday.
Overall it was a fun evening because I went with a wonderful person, saw a lot of good friends, and enjoyed seeing my friends perform well--but in the end result, it was kind of like watching grass grow.
21 comments:
And did you notice how many of the players are dropping out with "lower back injuries"? At least the tournament got some local TV sports coverage and the Star Telegram is providing solid coverage of the injury withdrawals. On the other hand, it's kinda hard to generate much excitement over the mind bending mediocrity of women's professionl tennis.
I was there last night (Tuesday) and watched several matches. What I saw was a lot of baseliners mostly and one or two fairly close matches and faces/names i had not heard of before. I think its great that they finally had a pro tennis event in DFW, other than the T-BAR-M Challenger. But I saw quite a few gals hitting first serves in the low 100 - 115 range and some nice looking back hands down the line. Most of these gals are pretty young still and can hit the ball pretty hard. I even saw a tweener in the doubles (but it was out). Give them time. I think the event was not promoted very well and the organization could have been better. I hear they had trouble with some sponsors. Hopefully Friday, Saturday and Sunday will provide a bigger crowd. Next year, I hope to get a chance to call lines.
Anyway, has a good pale ale in the hotel bar.
Thanks for the Pale Ale recommendation. I have the feeling I'm going to be dragged out to some of the matches, and I'll need several good drinks to put the event into the proper perspective.
Its 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday and the wind is blowing dust and its hot as the burning pits of hell.
Just think of how much fun they must be having at the tournament...
Only a man of the cloth could bring forth an analogy like "Hot as the burning pits of Hell".
After reading your post RM, I was struck by the tone, in particular the obvious bitterness, which conjured Heb 12:15 " 15Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;"
I don't imagine you'll allow this comment, but at least you'll read it, and hopefully take it to heart.
I do enjoy it when people quote verses of Scripture to me--especially taken out of context...
There was no root of bitterness involved--just an honest evaluation of a night watching women's tennis. What conclusions you draw are your own.
However I would venture an opinion that it does take the grace of God to cover some of the tennis I beheld with my own eyes.
I get a kick out of the "rude and lewd" comments that some seem to love to send--just remember they won't see the light of day.
If however you are getting the blog notifications and don't like them, just let me know and you can be deleted with the push of a button.
Women's pro tennis sucks and isn't worth the price of a ticket whether it is in NYC or Grapevine.
Yeah!! Equal pay for equal work. NOT!!
The women get to piggy-back on the men in NYC and get the same payout for those 2 out of 3 set matches they play. vs. the men playing 3 out of 5 set matches. How LOGICAL is that??
Did you see any extra pink balls around the baseline?
So I guess you've never slouched in your chair, or gotten the score wrong? Let he who casts the first stone . . .
You also must have missed the first match with Lisicki, who has the fastest serve in the women's game. She was awesome! Unfortunately, both men's and women's games are filled with dozens of the same type of player - no variety, just pound it back over the net. I miss the good old days when players used position and tact, not power, to win points. Maybe today's players can learn from that.
I admit the event wasn't well advertised, but killing it before it gets out of the second round is a little thoughtless. Your comments imply that it's not worth going to (which it is), so people may cancel their plans to attend based on them. I thought we wanted an event like this in Texas - let's not do any more damage, or we may not get another chance.
Chair officials at this level are certainly not to be doing the things we saw. Let's see--the semi-finals were 6-1, 6-0. That makes me want to hurry out to the tournament today and watch the finals at noon. Not.
The angle here folks is that WE get to evaluate our "brothern" the officials AND the players. And YES! we get to leave comments in favor of them and not in favor of them... that is how a BLOG works! Now stop crying and go call a line.
BACO
One problem with tennis officiating is officials editorializing on the quality of tennis with obvious disdain for what they are being paid to do.
The out of shape specimens of 'inclusivity' in their dreams could not play at the level of a mid range high school player;
but are so ready to give opinions on the players.
If they don't like the quality, why not stay home and watch reruns of their Serena tapes with their self serving whining--would be a good match of egos.
Someone has said that we only try to find things wrong at the tournament. Here are some things I thought were good:
The trees.
The shirts on the linespeople.
The net cords.
Here are things I thought were sadly lacking:
The chair officials.
The parking.
The seating on the stadium court.
The prices for drinks. ($4 for a canned coke).
Sorry if this offends some of you but that's just how it was... and all of that was in 107 degree heat.
I was watching the semifinals on the Tennis Channel last night and it looked like there were more umpires watching the match than spectators. OMG - how can a pro woman player double fault so many times. This is something you see in 10-and-under tennis. And to make matters worse, this player was getting paid for such poor performance.
Maybe that's why nobody was there watching.
Did the umpires get lunch?
RM,
You missed the most blaringly thing wrong with the tournament - THE PLAYERS or LACK THEREOF!
Let's think about this. 107 degrees, about 30-40% humidity and except for Wednesday no breeze. I don't know about you, but it would affect my tennis, and I can't even reach the bottem rung of their ladder. Might have had some affect on the officials, too. I for one had a blast working lines, and am thankful everyone else was in New Haven, Cinci, or on their way to New York.
We have got to do something about you old Curmudgeons. Try making suggestions on how to improve theings, not just point out the problems.
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