Ah, the traditions of tennis. Unfortunately, one the traditions of the sport we love is it’s absolute ludicrous TV programming. If you awoke early like me hoping to catch live semifinal action today from Paris on your TV here in the U.S., forget it, because it’s not on.
After watching countless hours of live coverage on ESPN2 and the Tennis Channel how could I forget that thanks to NBC and the geniuses who run and market top tier tennis, the semifinals from Paris are again on tape delay which means if you want to watch either or both Fernando Gonzalez v. Robin Soderling and Roger Federer v. Juan Martin Del Potro live as it happens, don’t bother switching on your televisions today, it won’t be on.
The tradition continues…Online streaming here I come.
As for the matches, I love both Gonzales and Federer today and both pretty easily. Gonzalez is a true claycourter, Soderling is not. Gonzo’s also won the last four meetings against the Swede and I know Robin’s been red-hot but I just think the Chilean has the experience of having been to this stage before.
In the second semifinal I think DelPo will keep things close against Federer who will be feeling the nerves. But Roger is just too darn close to let it slip away now. The nerves, the pressure and the expectations are there and I expect Roger will handle what’s to come.
