WIMBLEDON: The channel hopping holy grail of grand slams begins again

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WIMBLEDON: The channel hopping holy grail of grand slams begins again

July 02, 2017 - 20:37
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Wimbledon. Not everyone's cup of tea. However I have been enjoying watching the biggest of the grand-slams since 1977 when amazingly, Virginia Wade (Great Britain) won against Bettie Stove (Netherlands) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, and Bjorn Borg (Sweden) beat Jimmy Connors (USA) 3–6, 6–2, 6–1, 5–7, 6–4

Tim Henman, Sue Barker and Martina Navratilova

By Andy Simon @AndySimon55

Wimbledon. Not everyone's cup of tea. However I have been enjoying watching the biggest of the grand-slams since 1977 when amazingly, Virginia Wade (Great Britain) won against Bettie Stove (Netherlands) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, and Bjorn Borg (Sweden) beat Jimmy Connors (USA) 3–6, 6–2, 6–1, 5–7, 6–4

Sorry about that. I can be a little, 'Geeky' sometimes.

And the coverage I have observed has certainly changed over the years to say nothing of all that high tech gadgetry now employed to record every stroke of every match.

Gone are the net call judges whose fingertips caressed the net top for the slightest vibration. So too are the service line court judges thanks to an electronic computerized judge named, Cyclops.

There's even a challenge section given to each player to check that the call was good, or the ball was in or out. 

And with remarkable 21st Century precision, the ball is tracked on a big screen so as to reveal its precise location upon the court, thus leaving no doubt whatsoever to all concerned as to how that particular point in the game played out.

All very impressive. 

And in Dan Maskell's day (peace be upon him) the coverage of the entire Wimbledon fortnight pretty much stayed where it was, on BBC Two. Sadly though; not any more.

Nowadays; coverage of the holy grail of tennis grand-slams all too often hops from BBC2 to BBC1, and back again with annoying regularity to the point where some of us are quite literally, screaming at the screen in frustration. 

I mean seriously, you just imagine it. 

There you are, watching a gripping Centre Court singles match on BBC2. It's been a gruelling, racket bashing, player punishing five setter. The sun has been beating down its heat rays for hours, and the players are boiling hot, so too is the crowd. You give a quick  glance over at that little scoreboard on the left of your screen. The match is all square, two sets all, and 5-4 in the final set.

And then . . .

Sue Barker; that delightful host of the Wimbledon fortnight, announces coverage of this match will continue on BBC1.

And you suddenly switch from enthralled, engrossed viewer, to something very similar to a young John McEnroe, when he had what he regarded as a bad call at a most crucial point of the match he was playing in . . .
A channel changeover? . . . Now? . . . I mean, right now? "You cannot be serious man. YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!"

It's enough to make you choke on your strawberries and cream!

Now I know, and I do appreciate that the BBC try to do as much as they can to give us license payers as good a coverage as their televisual talents and technical abilities can achieve. 

And it really is appreciated. But . . .

Please; for crying out loud, stop with the channel hopping, yes? It really is terribly frustrating!

Now personally; I really couldn't give a rat's backside who wins the men's singles or indeed the women's singles however having said that, it would be nice if I saw a new name on the women's trophy instead of one of the Williams sisters.

Brilliantly talented as they are . . . They're boring. They're always winning. It feels like they have been there for centuries.

Yawn!

Yes of course, I have my favourites who I would love to see lift up the trophy some of whom, have already done so, more than once. But for me, it's the matches, the playing, the gutsy aggression, the passion, plus a whole variety of other emotions and reactions of the players that makes the goings-on at SW19 so watchable.

Fortunately for me, my working hours are such that I can if I wish, easily take full advantage of the BBC's excellent coverage of one of the biggest sporting events of the year.

I can even listen in when I'm fishing.

However I must admit, my enjoyment of such an exciting two weeks can be considerably reduced due to the tournaments frequent channel hopping courtesy of the BBC. And if the BBC could only knock it off a bit, then I as a humble member of the BBC's licence payers club, would be very, very grateful.

Just a suggestion?

Coverage of the championships at Wimbledon, continues on at least two mainstream channels, for the next two weeks.

Enjoy it if you can.

Thanks for reading.

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