Tennis Channel

How long have I wanted the Tennis Channel? Years, maybe a decade--has it even been around for a decade--I think so and I've wanted it ever since I first heard it existed. But my cable company said NO. Boo hoo.

Well I got a new cable company. They have the tennis channel. I swallowed my "HOW MUCH PER MONTH?" and said sign me up. The US Open Series is going on and the Series was at UCLA for the men and Stanford for the women this last weekend. A few years back, I went in person to the one at UCLA. The best part was seeing the Bryan brothers play doubles (and almost running into--literally--Nalbandian), but alas, the worst part was the sun. It was relentless. I would get there at 10 in the morning (having to leave my house by 9 a.m. to beat the traffic) and then the night matches sometimes lasted until after midnight. So I probably won't be going to too many more live matches in my lifetime. Therefore, the Tennis Channel seems like a really cool thing to have for someone who enjoys watching tennis from the comfort of her home.

So I turn on my new u-verse tv and there it is Maria Sharapova v. someone and I think how cool is this, but I'm a little troubled too. Why is Maria on the Tennis channel and two nobody guys are on espn2? Ha, I figured it out--I was watching espn2and the two nobody guys were being shown on the Tennis channel. Good call programing guys. That was Friday night. Saturday Murray at UCLA and Maria up at Stanford and they were both on espn2. Some match from Switzerland was on the Tennis channel. Hmmmmm. I guess it is not so bad to watch a match from Switzerland that looks like it is on clay. I knew both of the guys playing, but I was much more interested in the matches on espn2. Again, good call guys.

THEN it was the finals on Sunday--again Maria and Murray in their respective matches--again both on espn2.

The Bryan brothers were also playing in the doubles final at UCLA and if they won it would make them the all time winningest men's double team (Martina has the women's doubles locked up--good luck coming close Bryans). This is a big game. The Bryans lost the French and they lost Wimbledon, so this is not a lock by any means. And they are really fun to watch.

So what was the tennis channel showing--the Switzerland final. And you know what--that would have been fine. The Bryans know singles takes precedence over doubles and I know singles take precedence over doubles and a final match in men's singles is going to get top billing BUT the match in Switzerland was already over--I already knew the winner from the internet, so it has to be at least 9 hours ahead (France is 9 hours, so I'm sure Switzerland is a few more). This is a record for the Bryans! This is a big record in tennis! And the results of their match wasn't even on the internet where I could find it right away. Espn2 had them on as guests before the Murray v. Querrey match to talk about their win. They didn't even show any highlights. Querrey won by the way--I know you were all waiting for the results. Three sets--won the second set in a tie breaker after fighting off at least one match point by Murray. This is the first time Murray has come to LA. Not too hospitible actually. Whereas, this is Querrey's back yard. He had a bunch of his college buddies in the stands. They call themselves the Samaries--his name is Sam Querrey. I think I am digressing--oh yeah, dumb old tennis channel.

I think that I will probably have to actually go to the UCLA tournament next year in person. I think I owe that to the Bryan brothers. I'm going to need a really big hat.