There are some announcers who become bigger than the game. From Dick Vitale to Bill Walton to Lee Corso, these announcers become the show — often at the expense of the game itself. The announcer/analyst-as-attention-hog is nothing new. However, there is one sport where the announcers seem almost oblivious to the action at hand, in a way far different from the enthusiasm of Vitale, the exaggerations of Walton and the energy of Corso.
Tennis has a very limited stable of analysts and announcers. Several of the main voices work across networks; John McEnroe works for NBC/USA and CBS, Dick Enberg works for ESPN and CBS, Mary Carillo works for NBC and CBS, and various other personalities, such as Mary Jo Fernandez, Pam Shriver and Patrick McEnroe have multi-network duties as well. Because of that, tennis fans are treated to very little variety; three of the four Grand Slam finals are called by Enberg or Ted Robinson with McEnroe and Carillo providing analysis.
And none of this would be very problematic, if not for the fact that several of these analysts seem to concentrate on everything but the game. Whether its the relatively vapid observations of USA Network’s Tracy Austin, or the corny humor of Carillo, one is unlikely to find anyone in the booth who is not rambling on in conversation about everything but the match being played.
Throughout a given match, any set of announcers is likely to be talking about anything and everything; one is lucky if the conversation centers on something to do with tennis, as opposed to what outfit Maria Sharapova or Serena Williams is wearing. When the conversation does cover tennis, it has little to do with actual analysis of any matches, so much as it has to do with the gossip, innuendo, or special interest stories surrounding the players. Any given match featuring one of the Williams sisters will inevitably evolve into a debate on why they play so few tournaments — and not a brief debate that tails off by the time the match gets started, but a debate that lasts through the entire match, with very little attention paid to what is occurring on the court. And any conversation is likely to be very repetitive; for example, any tennis fan who has watched coverage in the past few years now knows James Blake‘s story by heart, as it is mentioned during every single match he plays.
Repetitive conversations and endless debates are one thing — though, granted, very distracting to anyone who is attempting to enjoy a tennis match. But when those conversations veer off from tennis to whatever topic happens to be on the minds of those calling the matches, they become almost untenable.
Does anyone care about the interplay between Ted Robinson and Tracy Austin? On the second night of the U.S. Open, the two engaged in a very awkward on-air conversation about the fact that Austin was wearing a dress that very loosely resembled the one Maria Sharapova debuted that night. Does anyone care that John McEnroe has a mildly amusing commercial? Evidently, both USA and CBS do, as both networks have made a point of talking about the ad relentlessly. And does anyone want to hear Mary Carillo do her imitation of Nick Bollettieri? Granted, the moment took up scant amount of airtime, but it was symptomatic of the fact that much of the announcing of tennis telecasts seems to be done for the purpose of amusing those in the booth, as opposed to informing those watching at home.
Too often, tennis announcers attempt to be too cute. From the almost painful comedy stylings of Mary Carillo, who once decided it would be hilarious to purposely mispronounce David Nalbandian‘s name because he was not playing well, to the “Oh God, Mom and Dad are flirting again and its disgusting” interactions between Robinson and Austin, gossip, inside jokes, and mildly funny comments end up being stretched across several agonizing minutes — and sometimes even over the points being played.
None of this is to say that every tennis telecast is a complete mess. However, the fact that many of these analysts talk endlessly about everything but the match is, if not a problem, a very irritating distraction for any fans attempting to enjoy the sport.
