TENNIS fans slammed the BBC for snubbing live coverage of Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter’s doubles debut.
The all-star British duo teamed up for the first time at Queen’s in the opening grass-court event ahead of Wimbledon.
But despite the BBC holding the rights to the tournament and the euphoria around tennis after yesterday’s epic French Open final, they opted against spotlighting two of GB’s biggest names and instead only showed the singles action on the main show court – now called the Andy Murray Arena.
While Sonay Kartal, Jodie Burrage and two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova were live on TV, that meant that Raducanu and Boulter – second up on Court 1 – were overlooked on BBC Two.
And their match against Fang-Hsien Wu and Xinyu Jiang was not available for British tennis fans to watch on either the red button or iPlayer.
BBC presenter Isa Guha said: “Unfortunately, we won’t be able to show you this match because we’re focused on Andy Murray Arena, but we will be bringing you updates throughout the course of the afternoon.”
But wannabe viewers were not happy.
One moaned: “Errrrr you’ve got two Brits linking up in the doubles – don’t you think that might have been of an interest to the British viewers?”
Another blasted: “You have the British women 1 and 2 playing together in doubles and you’re not showing it? Make it make sense!! So frustrating!!”
A third added: “You just showed a clip of Court 1 where Emma and Katie are starting their match; so why not show the match as a second option or one court on iPlayer and one on BBC Two? Very frustrating!”
A fourth complained: “Literally just showed us a clip of it why can’t we watch it?!!!!”
A fifth fumed: “Absolutely ridiculous you’re not showing Boulter/Raducanu in doubles.”
And a final user typed: “Why isn’t Court 1 on BBC iPlayer though? Can’t watch Boultercanu?”
Boulter and Raducanu – nicknamed Boulteranu by some on social media – ran out 6-4 6-2 winners in 71 minutes, laughing and high-fiving their way to victory in joyful scenes in front of the 1,000-seater stand.
The match was Raducanu’s second WTA doubles match of her career – and a first win.
Quizzed if they would team up again at Wimbledon, the former US Open champion downplayed their ambitions.
Raducanu – delighted to have overcome any injury concerns as she ended the match with a volley – insisted: “It’s a spontaneous thing, we’re just trying to do the best we can this week.
“We thought about it in Madrid, Miami and Paris.
“Moving to the grass, which is a very different surface, it helps us get a feel of serving, returning and playing some points.”
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But partner Boulter interjected: “Scrap what she said – we’re going for the Wimbledon title!
“No, just kidding… we haven’t thought about that.
“We both return very well and have great volleys, so if one of us hits a good ball we can capitalise on that.
“I’m very confident that Emma is going to put the ball away if I hit a good shot.”
World No37 Raducanu – who admitted she is still “wary” in public after he stalker hell – faces Cristina Bucsa in her opening singles match on Tuesday.
Boulter, three places higher than her partner in the WTA rankings, takes on Ajla Tomljanovic.
SunSport has contacted the BBC for comment on the snub, which comes after news that the BBC will have to share broadcast rights to the singles finals at Wimbledon with TNT Sports for the next five years.
Wimbledon ditching line judges a double fault for British tennis
By Joshua Jones
THE absence of line judges at Wimbledon will be a sad sight.
For as long as I can remember, the men and women decked out in their Ralph Lauren outfits have been part of the furniture at the All England Club.
Yes, they provided some mild entertainment on the court when one would call “fault” with plenty of extra, and unnecessary, gusto and volume that boomed around Centre Court, prompting a snigger from the fans.
Then there was the ongoing game of dodgeball they had to play when a big serve nailed a mammoth ace down the line and they had to take rapid evasive action or take a whack to the top of the head.
And challenges provided some audience participation, excitedly joining in the clapping countdown before the inevitable “oooh” when the graphic showed just how close the ball was to landing in or out.
Purely objectively, Wimbledon’s decision to replace line judges with Hawk-Eye Live makes total sense.
The accuracy and consistency of calls in real-time will speed things up, save time and should mark the end of arguments over the tight incorrect calls – well, until the technology malfunctions.
And Wimbledon’s hand was somewhat forced to ditch tradition for their standing in tennis.
The Australian Open and US Open already use electronic line calling and the ATP Tour is adopting Hawk-Eye Live across all of its tournaments from 2025.
Wimbledon’s refusal to comply would leave them lagging behind and exposed to the threat of needless controversy over human error.
But the impact – as is so often the case in these decisions – has ramifications further down, below the surface with very little impact on Wimbledon’s Championships or the players.
It is on the line judges themselves.
Approximately 300 officials – aged from 18 to 80 – covered more than 650 matches at Wimbledon.
A fraction travel internationally with the circuit but the vast majority of those are part-time line judges based in the UK, earning up to £180 per day to work at the prestigious tournament and their chance to play their part at Wimbledon.
For many, they will help out at British tournaments throughout the year, spurred on by the possibility of taking to the lawns of the All England Club.
But it is understood many of those officials would be reluctant to work at the lower-level tournaments without the carrot of Wimbledon dangling in the summer.
That in turn will put a major stumbling block in the pathway for British tennis umpires, who grind up through the ranks to reach the pinnacle of the sport.
Like football with referees, tennis needs umpires and line judges.
So the inability to call “out” at Wimbledon could prove to be a major “fault” for the future of the UK’s tennis officials and therefore the state of the sport on these shores.
Read the full article here