Slight surprise that the lead commentator for the Women's final is the excellent Andrew Cotter rather than John Inverdale who commentated the last 2 years. Also shame that Kim Clijsters isn't involved in the final as she has been commentating for the BBC or Lindsay Davenport who hasn't been on the BBC this year.
Wimbledon's loss is ITV Boxings gain he's presenting their PPV coverage tonight.
Not really I think Andrew Cotter is an excellent and underrated commentator who is excellent on every sport he commentates on and fully deserved his place in the commentary box for todays final, John Inverdale is good as a presenter but not as a commentator in my opinion.
I just think sometimes a voice people recognise is better for the sport than someone who's technically a better commentator. The fans of the sport will watch anyway, but it's probably going to appeal more to the casual fan.
Inverdale often gets basic things wrong when commentating on tennis, as a tennis fan it's really frustrating. Cotter may not be an expert in tennis given he covers a wide range of sports but he doesnt make the errors Inverdale does, knows when to keep quiet and leave it to the co-commentator alongside him, and he has a very nice voice to listen to also.
I suspect had Inverdale been on then most tennis fans would have switched to Bradnam and Croft on Eurosport yesterday.
Inverdale was awful as a commentator initially but has improved significantly over the last couple of years. It's no secret here I really rate him as a presenter too - IMO he's the best BBC Sport have got. Trouble is nowadays he, along with many other hosts, don't belong exclusively to BBC Sport and for an event like Wimbledon there now has to be a bit of give and take over availability, though losing some faces and voices towards the end isn't really too much of a disruption as the number of matches plummet towards the final. I'm guessing Mark Pougatch is committed to Wimbledon for 5Live so unavailable for ITV Boxing.
Andrew Cotter is excellent though on everything he does and probably the BBC's best all-round commentator at the moment. Just a shame that yesterday it was only the mens double match that was a worthy watch on Centre Court.
One thing I find strange about Wimbledon compared to the other grand slams is at them presenters come on and interview the match winners in front of the crowd, whereas at Wimbledon, they dissapear off court and do their interview there, where the crowd can't see or hear them (unless they're listening to the radio) apart from when Sue Barker appears after the final.
Surely that's because they need the courts for the next match? Wimbledon is run as a very tight ship. The post final interview on the court is relatively recent.
One thing I find strange about Wimbledon compared to the other grand slams is at them presenters come on and interview the match winners in front of the crowd, whereas at Wimbledon, they dissapear off court and do their interview there, where the crowd can't see or hear them (unless they're listening to the radio) apart from when Sue Barker appears after the final.
One thing I find strange about Wimbledon compared to the other grand slams is at them presenters come on and interview the match winners in front of the crowd, whereas at Wimbledon, they dissapear off court and do their interview there, where the crowd can't see or hear them (unless they're listening to the radio) apart from when Sue Barker appears after the final.