As longtime readers of TV Squad probably know, I'm a tennis fanatic. I hate summer with a passion, but I'm happy for the season during four weeks: the two weeks of Wimbledon (late June/early July) and the two weeks of the U.S. Open (late August/early September). If you need me those two weeks, I'll be in front of my TV and a fan, drinking cold liquids.
Of course, it's not all popcorn and roses. There's something that really irritates me about ESPN's coverage of Wimbledon that's going on right now, and I see it every single time I look at the screen (which I find you have to do if you want to watch the matches). It's that damn scoreboard at the top of the screen.
Now, usually, TV networks show a tennis score like this during the match:
Federer 4 5 4
*Roddick 6 7 5
30-15
(Yes, that's right, Roddick is serving for a straight set victory over Federer. This would never happen in real life.)
That's pretty easy to follow, settled into the lower right or left hand corner of the TV screen, the asterik denoting who is serving. But here's what we have to put up with ESPN, placed at the top of the screen:
1 Federer >6 Roddick 30-15 4-6, 5-7, 4-5
Huh?
Sure, you figure it out after a while (everything is read left to right), but after 20 years of the networks doing it a certain way, it's still not easy. I think the mind of the tennis fan is designed to process the score in a certain way. Just give us the scores next to the players names so we don't have to look on each side and line things up in our minds. I assume ESPN wants more room for their scroll at the bottom of the screen, but I really think they should go back to the old way of doing it, even if they don't have the score on the screen non-stop.
Even Andy doesn't like it. I mean, look at him in the pic looking up at the top of the screen thinking "that's really bothering me."
I really hope USA Network doesn't adopt this when the U.S. Open starts.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
6-27-2008 @ 3:58PM
Michael said...
Amen, brother. I feel like I am solving for a math formula when trying to figure out who is up in the match. I applaud them for not wanting to take up to much room on the TV screen, but it's a bit much.
I liked your fantasty Roddick-Federer match as well; it's so fantastical that you don't even have Roddick having to win a set in a tiebreaker against Fed.
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6-27-2008 @ 5:28PM
Michael Ludlow said...
This is crazy. When I come into a match part way through, the fact that one player has won two games, and the other one game, is somewhat irrelevant. What is much more revealing is that every set went to a tie break. Now I know that so far it must have been a very exciting match and I want to stay and watch. If I see a straight set walkover by one of the players I might be less inclined. I'm an aged Brit and Wimbledon is very dear to me but this has turned me off; I'm sad to say.
7-03-2008 @ 6:46PM
david said...
I'm with you. The old system was better. By the way, Boris Becker is a booring commentator. Love the guy, but he offers the most painfully obvious observations.
6-27-2008 @ 4:23PM
Shay said...
I completely agree. I can't wait for the later rounds when the networks pick them up. That was only complaint about the entire broadcast. Okay, that and to keep it on the people I actually care about watching.
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6-27-2008 @ 4:46PM
Raychel said...
I hate it too. I finally got to a point where I didn't have to think so much to figure out the score-it's practically second nature to me now-but now I have to THINK again? Sports isn't about thinking!
On a sidenote, Safin just won his 3rd round match and I am doing a little happy dance in my office.
:)
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6-27-2008 @ 4:50PM
Evan said...
Glad I'm not the only one that noticed that. I still have to work it out in my head for the first few minutes while I'm watching.
And way to go Andy. Glad you could make it out of the 2nd round.
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6-27-2008 @ 4:57PM
Joey S. said...
I noticed that as well. I'm not sure why they took a system that worked just fine and changed it to something that takes longer to decipher. It's like switching from Mac to Windows. Haha. In all seriousness though, I love Wimbledon and the ESPN coverage is pretty good, but that scoreboard has got to go.
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6-27-2008 @ 6:43PM
Stangy said...
I totally agree with you and they really need to change it. The numbers are also too small and hard to read.
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6-27-2008 @ 6:53PM
C C said...
My mother and I hate it! It's hard to read, plus you have to match the numbers to the players.To quote a post on another tv/tennis board: "You can't tell if someone is winning, losing, or dead".
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6-27-2008 @ 9:53PM
StillBash said...
erm...
Federer 4 5 4
*Roddick 6 7 5
30-15
Roddick serves. Therefor if the current count is "30-15" it means that Roddick has 30 and Federer 15. The game-count is always written down from the perspective of the server.
1 Federer >6 Roddick 30-15 4-6, 5-7, 4-5
And you are right: as soon as you write it down from-left-to-right you get into trouble. Because if you write the points directly next to the sets and put an arrow in front of the person who serves, you are royally screwed.
Because (again, on a regular Tennis Scoreboard in the stadium) it would look like this:
1 Federer >6 Roddick 15-30 4-6, 5-7, 4-5
The best way to write it down is this:
Federer 4 5 4 30
*Roddick 6 7 5 15
And that's how a scoreboard in a stadium looks like.
I should know. I worked as one of those kids who throw the players their fuzzy little round things they are playing with about 12 years ago ^^;
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6-27-2008 @ 10:52PM
StillBash said...
Or better like this, because we said Roddick is going to win within two serves:
Federer 4 5 4 15
*Roddick 6 7 5 30
(confused myself there, especially because the comment didn't show up right away)
6-27-2008 @ 11:51PM
Bonita Smith said...
Yes! Other people who love watching tennis on TV! I live in the Chicago suburbs, and I don't know ANYONE who watches tennis - it's crazy! So thank you for giving me a venue to share this love for tennis - and to vent about the awful new scoreboard. The worst part is figuring out whose score is whose. And a close second is that the numbers are so small, I often can't tell what the score is anyway. Is there somewhere we can email or petition so they might change it back? I've watched every tennis match for years, and I would never miss Wimbledon, but enduring this for another week and a half will do me in. Thanks.
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6-28-2008 @ 1:01AM
xnifex said...
Ok, so i get the following format:
Federer 4 5 4
*Roddick 6 7 5
30-15
I kinda get the next format too. My question though, what do the 1 & the 6 stand for next to their names & how do you know who is serving???
1 Federer >6 Roddick 15-30 4-6, 5-7, 4-5
I watch tennis sometimes just cuz it looks awesome in HD
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6-28-2008 @ 9:45AM
Boomfoxx said...
The 1 & 6 are the seeds for Federer and Roddick, and the > denotes who's serving.
And I agree with everyone here that the new ESPN scoreboard blows.
6-28-2008 @ 2:31AM
Julie said...
Yes, the scoring graphic is lame, but I am really grateful for ESPN 360 which allows free viewing anytime of full matches that either weren't on the telecast, or were on at a godawful hour (coverage starts at 4am here in LA). On the Wimbledon site itself, you have to pay a subscription to see webcasts. Go Marat, go!
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6-28-2008 @ 12:08PM
Matt said...
I couldn't agree more, it pissed my off as a broadcast and graphic designer that ESPN, normally a leader in design for this stuff would take the 'NFL Football' route with f*ing tennis.
It's so annoying and hope they dont make this mistake ever again, if I have to work at figuring out who's up, or even who has the AD after a deuce, I mean, WTH.
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6-28-2008 @ 1:04PM
Jeremy said...
Just add my amen to the chorus. How stupid
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6-28-2008 @ 3:53PM
loofabearoreilly said...
here's a puzzler for you guys:
stepanek >youzhny 5-7 7-6 4-6 5-6 30-15
i'm presently watching the Stepanek-Youzhny match...it seemed to take me an extra 10 seconds to decipher the score..until i realized i had it wrong and the other guy was winning and then...'er, you get the point.
who is the genius at ESPN who decided to jazz things up this year??
that being said, i've enjoyed the ESPN coverage. cahill, gilbert, pat mcenroe...pretty good stuff. i'm not a huge chris fowler fan as it makes it feel like a college football guy is giving me tennis play-by-play. but, overall it's been alright.
but that freakin' scoreboard is drivin' me crazy!
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6-28-2008 @ 11:43PM
Gail said...
Glad to see I'm not the only one. I also hate the awful "Guitar Idol" commercials.
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6-30-2008 @ 1:30PM
coffeesky said...
I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like the new scoreboard! I'm a HUGE tennis fan and I really love the ESPN Tennis commentating crew, but that scoreboard has got to go. That said, it would be easier for me to watch the re-runs on the Tennis Channel after work, but I tape the ESPN coverage because of the commentators. I especially love the 4-box topics at the beginning of the day.
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