Have the people who schedule Wimbledon matches really gone down the "sex sells" route? Based on my Thursday afternoon viewing, I would have to say yes.
I had just watched a great performance from Leyton "Come onnnnnnn!" Hewitt as he beat the 5th seed Del Potro in straight sets. The Aussie got me primed for some more exciting Wimbledon action, so I was eager to see who was up next on centre-court. Perhaps there would be a top women's match featuring the number 1 seed Safina, or maybe A-Rod would be crushing forehands in front of me for the next couple of hours.
Oh no. Up next was Wozniacki versus Kirilenko. The number 9 seed against an unseeded player in the women's singles. Suffice to say, I had never heard of either of these players, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the organisers would put such a game on centre-court. I was both surprised and annoyed, with no option but to switch over to Deal Or No Deal. Look what I was reduced to!
The (it goes without saying) infuriating woman on Deal Or No Deal didn't have a particularly powerful board, so I decided to flick around the channels until I came back to Wimbledon. "Pff...Wozniacki against Kirilenko". I stalled on BBC just to figure out which player was which, but before long "Wozniakci and Kirilinko?" became "Wozniacki and Kirilenko!", the greatest tennis match of all time, trumping even last year's epic final between Nadal and Federer. Why?
Caroline Wozniacki -- Maria Kirilenko
Okay so I'm slightly exaggerating about it being the pinnacle of tennis. Still, all of a sudden it became very clear to me why these two women were battling it out on centre-court while the likes of Serena Williams was slumming it on court No. 2, and it had very little to do with mesmerising backhands or a Midas touch around the net. In layman's terms, they're hot, and full-blooded men like watching hot women play tennis. I don't think I'm telling anybody anything new when I say that.
I was of course outraged by this superficiality on the part of Wimbledon schedulers, and only chose to continue watching the match in case the broadcasters left a number on the screen which I could dial in order to lodge a complaint. They didn't, and so I was forced to sit through this sham of a beauty pageant in its entirety. Every last point. Even the breaks between change-overs.
In all seriousness though, isn't it a bit of a cheap tactic to all but say that you get to play on centre-court if you're the more attractive player? Ignoring the fact that this ploy was a complete success on me, I think it's quite sad that Wimbledon has stooped to this. Now I have got nothing against either Wozniacki or Kirilenko. Nothing at all. In fact they were both pretty good players, and the former could go quite far in this tournament (she is the 9th seed after all). But lets keep a low profile game like this off of centre-court. If you want to watch the eye-candy then click the red button, but lets not turn the women's game into a parade. We have to be better people than that.
Anyway, Wozniacki and Kirilenko are about to start a charity doubles match over on BBC Stream 17. Let me know how the big game on centre-court goes.
I had just watched a great performance from Leyton "Come onnnnnnn!" Hewitt as he beat the 5th seed Del Potro in straight sets. The Aussie got me primed for some more exciting Wimbledon action, so I was eager to see who was up next on centre-court. Perhaps there would be a top women's match featuring the number 1 seed Safina, or maybe A-Rod would be crushing forehands in front of me for the next couple of hours.
Oh no. Up next was Wozniacki versus Kirilenko. The number 9 seed against an unseeded player in the women's singles. Suffice to say, I had never heard of either of these players, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the organisers would put such a game on centre-court. I was both surprised and annoyed, with no option but to switch over to Deal Or No Deal. Look what I was reduced to!
The (it goes without saying) infuriating woman on Deal Or No Deal didn't have a particularly powerful board, so I decided to flick around the channels until I came back to Wimbledon. "Pff...Wozniacki against Kirilenko". I stalled on BBC just to figure out which player was which, but before long "Wozniakci and Kirilinko?" became "Wozniacki and Kirilenko!", the greatest tennis match of all time, trumping even last year's epic final between Nadal and Federer. Why?
Caroline Wozniacki -- Maria Kirilenko
Okay so I'm slightly exaggerating about it being the pinnacle of tennis. Still, all of a sudden it became very clear to me why these two women were battling it out on centre-court while the likes of Serena Williams was slumming it on court No. 2, and it had very little to do with mesmerising backhands or a Midas touch around the net. In layman's terms, they're hot, and full-blooded men like watching hot women play tennis. I don't think I'm telling anybody anything new when I say that.
I was of course outraged by this superficiality on the part of Wimbledon schedulers, and only chose to continue watching the match in case the broadcasters left a number on the screen which I could dial in order to lodge a complaint. They didn't, and so I was forced to sit through this sham of a beauty pageant in its entirety. Every last point. Even the breaks between change-overs.
In all seriousness though, isn't it a bit of a cheap tactic to all but say that you get to play on centre-court if you're the more attractive player? Ignoring the fact that this ploy was a complete success on me, I think it's quite sad that Wimbledon has stooped to this. Now I have got nothing against either Wozniacki or Kirilenko. Nothing at all. In fact they were both pretty good players, and the former could go quite far in this tournament (she is the 9th seed after all). But lets keep a low profile game like this off of centre-court. If you want to watch the eye-candy then click the red button, but lets not turn the women's game into a parade. We have to be better people than that.
Anyway, Wozniacki and Kirilenko are about to start a charity doubles match over on BBC Stream 17. Let me know how the big game on centre-court goes.
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