I've heard it said once or twice that the organizers at Wimbledon could help solve the weather problem by moving the tournament -- England gets less rain after the middle of July. There will always be some, of course, but it might be a simpler solution than building a roof.

They're talking about it again. Boris Becker is set against it (tradition), but I've always thought he was an idiot.

In any case, talking about it is nothing new. We'll see if anything happens. I doubt it will.

moving the tournament? by gum, they can't even play on the first sunday of the tournament...hell freezes over before it happens.

Even with the annual rain problems, rarely do the finals get pushed back. If anything, the weather wreaks havoc with the doubles draws. And they are able to accomplish this without playing on the middle Sunday or night matches. Somehow it always seems to work out. The US Open, in order to drain more money from consumers, plays, and charges for, a separate night session. they also don't allow for an off day between the semis and the finals. Wimbledon at least schedules an off day and they usually accomplish that.

I would consider moving the tournament if only to allow more time between the clay season and the start of Wimbledon. And perhaps they need to consider a retractable roof.

hewitt's in the finals.

props to lleyton hewitt. he played like the world's number one. well done.

and tim 'i can't win wimbledon' henman? oh well, better luck next time. not even wimbledon's finagling was enough.

gotta love the mental tenacity of hewitt. after 'choking' his first chance to serve out the match, hewitt came back strong and finished it off with an ace.

am rooting for the underdog - a futile exercise - in the final, but neither malise nor nalbandian has the weapon to beat hewitt.

the championship trophy is in the bag.

Okay the match is over and is on tape delay on NBC. So why the hell do WE HAVE TO SIT THROUGH THE FREAKIN' RAIN DELAY!!!!!!!

And tzeile, you said Hewitt played like the #1. How did you see the match? Right now, in NBC Time, its 3-0 in the second set. Was the match live on satellite somewhere?

I was wondering the same thing about the tape delay/raindelay thing. It seemed rather stupid. Especially as there is a live match going on right now.

i didn't see the match. just read on the net how awesome hewitt was.

Did NBC not show the Nalbandian/Malisse match?

No, I don't think NBC showed the Malisse/Nalbandian match--at least I never saw it when I poked my head in the TV room at work. All I saw was Henman/Hewitt and Williams doubles. Probably are saving it for Saturday so they can show something more exciting than the all-Williams women's final. I did listen to M/N on Wimbledon Net Radio--great match. I think Malisse could give Hewitt a good run in the final...I think Nalbandian would cave to the nerves...he's showed signs of it in his last two matches. Even though Malisse has never won a tournament, he's been around longer and appears very cool and collected. I agree that Hewitt played like the number one today, but I'll be pulling for the underdog as well...particularly if it's Malisse.

That's not right. How can you not show a men's semifinal match on the day it's played (or even the day most of it is played.)

That's not respecful.

TNT is showing the second semi now. They are contractually tied in to show one of the semis (though NBC gets to pick which one it covers). Therefore, you did not see any real updates on NBC about the second match, so TNT could pop on after the NBC coverage.

The same happens with the women's semis. It is an okay arrangement, though kind of odd. NBC has started this "shown at the same time across all time zones" thing, so that their coverage in the east is an hour ahead of the midwest, etc. Kind of screwy, but I expect nothing more from them these days. So, TNT is basing its programming on east coast time, and that means we see live tennis about an hour before the NBC coverage ends. Makes it pretty wacked out.

I'm pretty sure that TNT's contract states that NBC will only get one semi, while TNT will get the other. It would have been on live this morning on TNT had it not been for the rain.

Ah. I see it now. But I feel like there was no way to know. I don't recall hearing anything about this during the broadcast (like tune into TNT for the other semifinal.)

There's some nice shot making.

Well, weather and airing agreements do have the tendency to work against a live broadcast, but at least it wasn't intentionally delayed. Too bad I don't have TNT at home. Well, I see that Nalbandian pretty well dominated Malisse in that last set...once again...reminding myself why I don't bet...but it is fun to speculate

Anyhow, good luck to Nalbandian (and Hewitt too) tomorrow. He'll need to be really on as he doesn't seem to really have that ACE he can pull out in the clutch situations--that's the one thing I thought could make Malisse competitive. I also hope Malisse gets his heart checked over due to the reported irregular heart beat he suffered in the first sets of the semi. Hopefully that's all it was and nothing more serious.

Malisse's doctor in Belgium said it was an anxiety attack.

Did anyone see David Nalbandian in the booth with McEnroe and Robinson? I like this guy!!! Nice sense of humor and personality. Not bad to look at either!! Would love to see him crush that putz Hewitt!!!

yeah, i like nalbandian and his stocky build. hope he kicks hewey's ass.

go nalbandian!

thomas johansson, alberto costa....david nalbandian?

hmmmm, could this be the year of the underdogs?

GO NALBANDIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ July 06, 2002: Message edited by: tzeile29 ]

If Hewitt plays the final like he has all through the tournament, Nalbandian hasnt got a chance. GO HEWITT!!

Nalbandian in the finals. Who would have guessed that one? Can anyone else hear Bill Murray in Caddyshack talking about a "Cinderella story"? This would be HUGE if he he wins. I definitely will have to root for him. But it does show how bad of a state that men's tennis is in.

I don't usually condone violence, but I kind of look forward to one of Hewitt's opponents slugging him after one of those annoying COME ON's.

He had a hell of a tournament though. Nice to see you don't have to be some kind of hulk to win Wimbledon. And great run by Nalbandian. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of him and he won't be some kind of one-hit wonder.

[ July 07, 2002: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

Despite Hewitt's boorish behavior (which is really, really, really boorish), I can't force myself to hate him. If Kim Clijsters likes him he can't be all bad.

But congrats to him. It's nice to see a real #1 emerge in the men's game, though that final was dull, dull, dull. Now hopefully Hewitt will get a real rival (or two) also.

Kim Clijsters must have been so torn. Her sister is playing on Court 18 for the girls' double title as we speak.

I agree, Hewitt is rather insufferable while on court; but he was most gracious in his post-match interviews with Sue Barker and Bud Collins. While I admire his game a lot (nice to see a #1 get the job done without relying on brute power) and concede that he's most likely a very nice guy off the court, I still can't get myself to root for him.

I'm sure Patrick Rafter is far too gracious a person to dwell on something like this, but if I were in his shoes (far less gracious creature that I am), I'd be wondering, "Why the hell didn't I ever get a dream draw like that?!?!"

Rafter had two great chances in the Finals to win the Big W and choked them both away.

Don't be talking badly about Pat Rafter.

Hey Lev, the only reason I take that attitude about Pat is because he dumped me after a wild weekend of naked twister! And he said he'd call right after he won Wimbledon!