Aussie Open Final: Djokovic, Murray, Crazy Dive-Bombing Birds

Andy Murray defeated David Ferrer in the second of two men’s tennis semifinal matches at the Aussie Open, placing Murray into the finals against Novak Djokovic for the first major title of the season.

The bigger story, however, is who else will be on the court during the final. Birds. Crazy birds.

We posted a video yesterday of the incessant bird squawking and feathers falling onto the court during the Djokovic-Federer match. In today’s semifinal, the birds began to — as Chris Fowler called it on ESPN — “dive-bomb the court.”

Yesterday, McEnroe blamed it on the darn Indian Myras, but today, it was certainly the seagulls.

Despite the birds, the tennis has been spirited. Here’s hoping the finale is a real, ahem, thriller. Which catch phrase works the best?

Call of the Day: The Federer-Djokovic Aussie Semifinal Is For The Birds

Roger Federer asked for time in the middle of the second set because he saw something caught in the net. It was a bird feather. A bird feather!

Just before the end of the second set — a game that gave Novak Djokovic a two sets to none lead — the birds struck again. Chris Fowler and Patrick McEnroe were all over the call.

Those darn Indian Mynas indeed. From Wiki:

The Common Myna…is a member of family Sturnidae, (starlings and mynas) native to Asia. An omnivorous open woodland bird with a strong territorial instinct, the Myna has adapted extremely well to urban environments. The myna has been introduced in many other parts of the world and its distribution range is on the increase. It is a serious threat to the ecosystems of Australia. The Common Myna is an important motif in Indian culture and appears both in Sanskrit and Prakrit literature.

In Australia, the Common Myna is an invasive pest. They are now often the predominant bird in urban areas all along the East coast. In a 2008READ MORE

Fixing the U.S. Open (Suggestions for CBS, ESPN & USTA)

Now that another U.S. Open tennis tournament is in the books and yet another finals weekend was butchered by weather and television, it’s time to come up with a solution that doesn’t end up with multiple networks covering one final. When rain delayed the men’s final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic from Sunday until Monday, CBS and the U.S. Tennis Association announced it would begin the final no earlier than 4 p.m. Eastern. This has been the case for the previous two years when weather wreaked havoc with the schedule.

When another rain delay arrived one set into the match, CBS decided it was not going to have tennis butcher its primetime schedule and shuffled it to ESPN2 which is the U.S. Open’s partner on cable. This is somewhat understandable. CBS felt that tennis didn’t have enough ratings heat during a weeknight and decided to give up on the final.

So the match is running into the 10 p.m. hour in the East. On ESPN, a lightning delay, the same weather that caused the U.S. OpenREAD MORE

DL431: Chris Chase of Yahoo’s Busted Racquet Talks US Open Tennis

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Chris Chase from Yahoo’s Busted Racquet — still one of the hardest blog names you’ll ever have to spell — joins the show to talk about the US Open semifinals and finals. But first, I tell a story about how my lawn and tree caught on fire last night. Fun stuff.

Chase and I discuss that current state of American tennis which, last we checked, could be described as “in disarray.” Did anyone see this coming? Chase explains how fickle a sport like tennis can be, which leads to an interesting conversation about the ability to project talent in a sport like tennis where the game is as much mental as it is physical.

Or, is it more mental that physical? Are the better players just more prepared mentally than others? And what role does the fact that players can’t talk to their coaches during matches have to do with their ability to handle the mental and emotional stress inside a match?

READ MORE

Roger Federer’s Microphone Cut Out Ironically Blamed On “RF Interference”

By now you’ve seen the video of Roger Federer’s interview after securing a spot in the US Open semifinals (if not, see below) where he talks about how great it is to be a dad but that the kids have ruined his chances of getting…NOTHING TO SEE HERE MOVE ALONG…

Gwen Stefani thinks you are a randy man, Roger. A randy man.

Per the incomparable nose-to-the-grindstone media reporting of Richard Deitsch at SI, ESPN did not tape delay the interview and drop the sound on Federer’s obvious joke about getting some action with the wife. It was hilariously blamed on “RF interference.”

Deitsch Tweets:

Says an ESPN spokesperson: “The sound went dead for a few seconds, causing instant panic in the truck until the sound came back. The interruption was due to RF (radio frequency) interference. It makes more for good internet fodder but Roger was live.”

So ESPN did not cut the sound to sanitize their broadcast. Dang. Hey, at least the PR people have a good sense of humor about it.

John McEnroe Is “More Than Entitled” To His Opinion About Women’s Tennis

A few weeks back we lauded Charles Barkley for being one of the few analysts in sports who speaks his mind while seemingly having no filter. In suggesting that nobody is as open and honest about his sport as Barkley, several people mentioned the name John McEnroe. My reply: you cannot be serious! (I’ll be here all night, folks. Don’t forget to tip your servers.)

In fact they were serious, and they were right, too. McEnroe will say anything about anyone, even if it insults half the sport he covers. From Diane Pucin of the LA Times (h/t USA Today):

“Women have it better in tennis than any other sport, but you shouldn’t push them to play more than they’re capable of playing,” McEnroe said. “The game has become more physical than it’s ever been and then you deal with what is thrown out not only from the opponent but the expectations they have for themselves.”

“They should be required to be in less events, there should be less events for the women. It seems it takes an actual meltdownREAD MORE

These Teenage Girls Are Better Interviewers Than Any of Us

A racquet clap and professional curtsey to Chris Chase at Busted Racquet for grabbing this video of two 13 year-old girls who had the chance to interview Kim Clijsters and other WPT players for Cincinnati.com:

Katherine Arnold and Abigail Singer are huge tennis fans. Even better, they love playing tennis. So when we asked the two local 13-year-old girls if they would be interested in being junior reporters for us in Mason, they jumped at the idea.

Imagine how hard this must be for two kids. First, you get to not just interview professional athletes, but some of the best players in the world in the sport you play. Then, you have to come up with compelling questions, which the two certainly did (even if they repeated some in subsequent interviews). Then you have to ask those questions in a clear, concise manner without stumbling or totally rambling. I still can’t manage to do that part!

The hardest part…the entire thing is not only being recorded, but being recorded on VIDEO, so not only did they have to do everything weREAD MORE

DL394: The Goal and Landon’s Legacy. Plus: Tennis Marathon and NBA Draft

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We talk about the USMNT win, the tennis marathon — and how ESPN handled the event — and the NBA draft, including the Washington Post story on John Wall. But really, this is about soccer. I don’t usually do this, but here’s my post from The Sporting Blog. I’d like to have it here as well, but please click the link to give them the credit.

U.S. To Face Ghana In Second Round After Donovan’s History-Changing Strike

It’s not an overstatement to claim that Landon Donovan’s amazing extra-time goal against Algeria is the most important goal in the history of American soccer. Let’s be honest, there’s not a very long list of candidates. The United States victory over Mexico in the second round of the 2002 World Cup may have been a bigger win, but neither goal in the match can even come close to the drama of Donovan’s 2010 strike.

There’s a case to be made that the own-goal by Colombia’s Andres Escobar, helping the United States advance to the second roundREAD MORE