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US Open 2010, Flushing Meadows, NY, USA
September 3, 2010
Editorial by Jane Voigt.
Jane Voigt |
The Virtual U.S. Open
September 3, 2010 -- Hurricane Earl sent only a weak set of rain delays at the U.S. Open Friday, but it was enough to remind folks about TV tennis at its worst -- taped matches, replays from years gone by and endless talk.
For TV viewers, it doesn't have to be that way. Never before has the U. S. Open been, well, so open. Now you can watch matches in real time, on your schedule, if you know where to look, all via a bevy of electronic gadgets and gizmos, hooking up in a virtual world never seen until this year.
Good-bye to the whims of major broadcasters, like NBC, with its insensitive scheduling and flawed insistence that demand depended more on the star quality of players than on whether a match was live. Or worse, live matches shoved off the schedule completely.
Now tennis, like everything else, is wired.
If you're one of the lucky ticket holders and an American Express cardholder you can enhance your match viewing with expert commentary, like you hear on TV at home. Stop by the Amex booth and pick up a free ear-sized radio. Put it on and you'll hear the friendly voices of Patrick McEnroe and Darren Cahill from ESPN2, or Justin Gimmelstob and Lindsey Davenport from Tennis Channel while you watch, let's say, Ana Ivanovic defeat Virginie Razzano on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
These tennis experts will fill you in on stats, Ana's commitment to come back, and Razzano's unfortunate year of injury struggles. The match has now become a 3D experience. You're there. The stars are on court in front of you. And the boys in the booths make all the points special. It's way too cool.
If you're tired and hungry you can leave the court, sit down for a bite of food and catch action on the many jumbo-tron screens. These aren't new at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, as many know. Evening session ticket holders have enjoyed live jumbo-tron day-session matches on Arthur Ashe Stadium as they wait in the South Plaza for their chance to experience The Open at night.
This year, as they stand around by the thousands having texted every family and friend in the address book of their handheld wizard, they can take a trip to the optimized U. S. Open website. It will instantly detect the type of device that delivered them to its portal.
iPhone users can then download an app specifically designed for the cool Apple handheld. You'll keep time with live scores, and the latest news 'from on and off the court.' A feature called 'Around Me' can direct you to the nearest live matches, concessions, or the next train to anywhere. You can listen to live streaming play-by-play radio through USOpen.org radio. Or, download On Demand Videos from around the grounds. If you want to be an inch from the latest whatever, you click on 'Twitter' for official U. S. Open tweets. And, last but not least, the app has maps, an indispensable item in life at The Open.
You won't be able to watch live-streaming TV on your iPhone, though.
"The iPhone and the iPad really don't support Flash," Ryan, an Expert at the Arlington, Virginia, Apple Store, said. Flash being the necessary software for live-streaming. "But this site directs you to the part of the site that let's live streaming work on iPads."
The quality is brilliant and you can pick from five courts of real-time matches: Arthur Ashe, Louis Armstrong, Grandstand, and Courts 11 and 13. Once you've picked your favorite, click on PIP for a tiny view of your second most favorite match. There's an icon for match stats, too.
Live-streaming matches can be seen on any computer and iPad. If you're a tennis fanatic that relishes in the sport and you find yourself at work, not at home in front of your giant HDTV, just open the website.
Fans who had discovered channelsurfing.net or fromsport.net, or other websites that have shown live-streaming for some time now, know the Open's website and it's live-streaming feature isn't new phenomena. Fans had to find something fast to replace the lame networks' scheduling.
But, let's not distract ourselves from what the USTA has done to service its broad public of tennis fans. It stepped outside the realm of reasonable thinking and created an annual tennis electronic extravaganza with an eye on attracting visitors from around the world no matter where the feet were planted.
In addition to all the avenues already mentioned, you can do the mundane and hookup with the tournament on Facebook, or open a Twitter account and follow players and media pundits for those slivers of enlightenment that pop up and need to be shared, like Twitpics or video clips of Roger Federer's even-better tweener shot or the one where he smacks a water bottle off a production guy's head after a shot for a Gillette commercial.
There's a bracket challenge, too. And photographers from the best tennis shooters the world of sports has to offer.
So next time you pass some folks on the street and their heads are buried in their handhelds, they might just be taking a virtual trip around the U. S. Open without missing a heartbeat of life as they know it outside a tennis court.
Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) d Ryan Harrison (USA) {shirt with red collar} 63 57 36 63 76(6)
[18] John Isner (USA) d Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) {white shirt} 63 36 76(7) 64
Earlier Coverage from this Event:
September 2, 2010 US Open: Way Below The Radar - Roger Federer, Caroline Wozniacki, Kai-Chen Chang, Andreas Beck, Robin Soderling, Taylor Dent
September 1, 2010 US Open: The Word - Andy Murray, Lukas Lacko, Venus Williams, Rebecca Marino, Gael Monfils, Igor Andreev
August 31, 2010 US Open: What's Age Got To Do With It? Arnaud Clement, Marcos Baghdatis, Novak Djokovic, Mardy Fish, Jan Hajek, Viktor Troicki
August 30, 2010 US Open: And Away We Go - Melanie Oudin, Kim Clijsters, Andy Roddick, Olga Savchuk, Greta Arn, Stephane Robert
August 29, 2010 US Open: Who's In, Who's Out
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