The Night Session: Box Seats Podcast 2 — WTA TV, Wimbledon Seeding, & WTA vs ATP
TennisInsideOut.com presents the BOX SEATS spin-off of THE NIGHT SESSION podcast, where we discuss some of the larger issues in the world of tennis. Guest Stephanie Neppl once again joins host Valerie David to follow up on last year’s extensive discussion on the state of the WTA.
Listen in as they talk about the WTA’s ongoing struggle with television and streaming coverage, Serena Williams’ controversial seeding at Wimbledon, and the perception of women’s tennis from fellow players on the men’s side of the tour.
(Missed the first Night Session: Box Seats podcast? Click here to listen!)
SCROLL DOWN for topic timestamps, summaries, and some important links to help you further understand the issues we discuss here! FYI: The Box Seats Podcast 2 was recorded on 6/28/2018. Thanks for tuning in!
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0:02 WTA TV, beIN SPORTS, AND THE 7 MILLION OTHER TENNIS OPTIONS FANS MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN — After the intro, Val and Steph revisit WTA CEO Steve Simon’s plan of “Short-term pain for long-term gain,” discussing the complicated web of TV and streaming options for tennis fans and the latest reviews of WTA TV.
Note: We got so many great reviews of WTA TV from you all (Thank you!!!) that we’ll be doing a separate post to further dig in to how the streaming service is working out for both fans and tennis writers. Watch this space, follow us on Twitter @TennisInsideOut, or check out the upper right column on this page to subscribe to Tennis Inside Out–you’ll get an email every time we post new stuff!
Note 2: Thanks again to Tony (@tjc05 on Twitter) for running TennisWatchers.com, and providing tennis fans all the details on where to watch their favorite matches.
24:24 WIMBLEDON SEEDING FOR SERENA WILLIAMS — Steph has some strong words for those that disagree with Serena being seeded after taking maternity leave, but there is still plenty to talk about regarding other players’ objections, the comparison to how the ATP handles seeding, and how this “controversy” reflects on the women’s tour in general.
44:17 THAT ONE TIME THANASI KOKKINAKIS HAD A PRACTICE HIT WITH SERENA — Val had a strong reaction to a recent interview with the young Aussie player and his memories of hitting with a “surprisingly” strong Serena. The rant segues into a discussion about how the dudes on tour think about the gals in their sport, with plenty of thoughts on how the ATP and WTA could better combine their efforts to improve the world of tennis for both players and fans.
Note: Here’s the Tennis Smash article we’re talking about: Kokkinakis: ‘Serena’s so much stronger on the ball than I thought.’ Val’s hoping the author of said piece will be less mad at her now that he’s getting more page views and a link back to his material.
56:02 POSITIVE THOUGHTS FOR WIMBLEDON? — Steph and Val share some hopes and dreams for the upcoming Wimby tourney. Please note that this was before we saw the draw and some of those insane first round line-ups. (*insert sobbing noises from Val here*) We’ll definitely be getting to that in our follow-up podcast after Wimby!!
Thank you for listening to the new NIGHT SESSION: BOX SEATS! Please RT and share the podcast if you enjoyed — we greatly appreciate it!
(Ed.Note: Due to the vagaries of Google Hangouts, we unfortunately had some audio problems, particularly with an echo issue. After a lot of post-editing, the quality has improved; we apologize for any remaining issues.)
