Well, let me tell ya somethin’ about them ESPN tennis commentators. Folks always watchin’ the tennis on the TV, and there’s them voices yappin’ away. Some good, some not so much. It’s like listenin’ to folks at the market, some know what they talkin’ ’bout, some just fillin’ the air.
You got yer big names, the ones they always talk about. That McEnroe fella, he’s one of ’em. Used to be a real hotshot player, now he’s tellin’ us what’s what. He’s got opinions, that’s for sure. Sometimes he’s right, sometimes he’s just…loud. But folks listen, ’cause he’s been there, done that.
Then there’s that Martina lady, Navratilova. Another one who used to whack that ball around real good. Now she’s up there, tellin’ us about the game. She knows her stuff, you can tell. She ain’t just yappin’, she’s explainin’ things, makin’ it easy for folks like me to understand. Real sharp, that one.
And there’s a whole bunch of others, some I remember, some I don’t. They got their favorites, the ones they put on the big matches. Then you got the ones they stick on the early mornin’ games, when nobody’s watchin’ much. It’s a whole crew of ’em, talkin’ heads they call ’em.
- Some are good at explainin’ the game, tellin’ ya why someone hit the ball where they did, or what they shoulda done different.
- Some are just there for the laughs, crackin’ jokes and makin’ things light. Sometimes it’s fun, sometimes it’s just annoyin’.
- And some, well, some just talk and talk, and you don’t even know what they’re sayin’ half the time. They use all them fancy words, like they’re tryin’ to show off how smart they are.
This year, the commentatin’ has been somethin’ else, they say. I don’t know, I ain’t watched every single match. But folks are talkin’, sayin’ it’s been good, been bad, been everything in between. One thing’s for sure, them accents can be tricky. I heard tell of the captionin’ messin’ up, callin’ things “coconut mess” and such. Lord have mercy, them computers don’t know what to make of it sometimes.
They got this fella, Darren Cahill, I think his name is. He coaches one of them players, the one that won that big Wimbledon thing last year. So he knows the game from the inside, you know? He can tell you what them players are thinkin’, what they’re feelin’. That’s kinda interestin’, I guess. It’s like gettin’ a peek behind the curtain, seein’ how things really work.
And then there’s the whole bunch of folks on ESPN+, and other places too, not just ESPN. Seems like everybody’s got a tennis channel these days. And they all got their own commentators. Hard to keep track of ’em all, to be honest. Some are from Australia, some from England, some from right here in America. They all got their own way of talkin’ about the game.
Like that Rennae Stubbs, she’s from Australia. She played too, a long time ago. Now she’s tellin’ us what’s what. She’s got that Aussie accent, you know? Takes a bit of gettin’ used to, but she knows her tennis. And there’s plenty more like her, all over the place. It’s a regular United Nations of tennis talkin’!
What do folks want from these commentators, anyway? Well, I reckon they want someone who knows the game, someone who can explain what’s goin’ on. They don’t want no fancy talk, no showin’ off. Just plain and simple, tell it like it is. And maybe a little bit of fun, too. Nothin’ wrong with a good laugh now and then.
So, that’s the deal with them ESPN tennis commentators, as far as I can tell. Some good, some bad, some in between. But they’re part of the show, you know? Like the ball boys and the linesmen. They’re there to make the tennis come alive, to bring it into our livin’ rooms. And that’s somethin’, I guess. It’s somethin’.