Channel Seven has been the tennis television station for decades, with the winner of every match they cover interviewed live immediately for the viewers. Except James Duckworth at the Brisbane International last night.
The channel showed no respect for the 22-year-old Aussie, despite his courageous 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 win over the mighty-tough-to-beat Finn Jarkko Nieminen to chalk up one of the most important victories of his fledgling career.
Having stuck with Duckworth to the end on court one, Channel Seven switched immediately to centre court for the Anna Ivanovic-Kaia Kanepi clash, and ignored Duckworth’s superb win completely.
He deserved far better than that.
Duckworth was gone for all money midway through the second set, but he kept pressure on Nieminen even though his heavy first serves weren’t working to plan, despite Duckworth blasting 16 aces past Nieminen.
The aces were well spread, and rarely at critical times, yet Duckworth hung in there. His ground strokes had plenty of power, while his volleys kept his left-handed opponent honest.
Duckworth has ticker, and plenty of it. He saved two match points at 6-5, and broke Nieminen in the second game of the decider when he was having the devil of a time keeping pace with Nieminen’s swinging serve.
To prove how close this match was, both players won 103 points in the overall.
In the end, leading 5-3 and serving for the match, Duckworth remained cool to win it to love with two aces included – one for match point.
Then no interview by John Fitzgerald to praise Duckworth’s success. Channel Seven, that was poor form and showed no respect.
Sam Groth was given all the normal recognition earlier for his win over Poland’s Lukasz Kubot, in a clash between two bazooka servers which saw only one break point converted out of nine, and that was Groth to take out the first set.
Groth served 21 aces to 14, and won 113 points overall to 110. But it was Groth’s powerhouse ground strokes that made the difference.
Both Duckworth and Groth face their moment of truth later today in what will be a huge leap in their learning experience.
Three young Aussies feature on the Brisbane International centre court today and tonight.
Sam Groth starts proceedings this morning against Canada’s Milos Raonic, ranked eighth in the world, followed by Bernard Tomic against Kei Nishikori, ranked fifth in the world.
Tonight will be Duckworth against world number two Roger Federer, who dodged a bullet last night after being down a set and 1-3 to Aussie journeyman John Millman before rallying for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win in a tick over two hours.
Millman played some outstanding tennis, and if Duckworth can play as well as he did against Gilles Simon and Nieminen, and Federer doesn’t improve on his display, Duckworth is in with a show.
One thing for sure, if James Duckworth creates the biggest upset of the tournament, you can bet your house on Channel Seven interviewing him afterwards.
pjm
Roar Rookie
Pointing out obvious typo's is quite base.
Simoc
Guest
I can't see a slow toepoke like Lord understanding such basics Shane. Mostly he has a headline and thats it. And female tennis everytime for me. The guys are so robotic and boring, apart from Federer, and a couple of others.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
There is a simple reason why Duckworth wasn't interviewed. The commentary isn't done on that court, it is done on Pat Rafter Arena. As a result they can't get a reporter to the court in time to do the interview. The same applied to Dimitrov, Dolgopolov, Millman and others when they won at the court. No interview was completed at the court. Seven don't have any commentating equipment there and it is just a televised court.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
Okay, I'm talking about sportspersons in general, with the "done good played well" formula that tries to avoid offending any sponsors -- and the reporters who are pretty clueless, or overly matey. There's a certain discomfort factor in watching a football manager explain that his team is brilliant, even though they haven't won a game, but it's not good interviewing to ask "How can you turn it around", and hear the response, "Win more games". "How?" "Take more wickets, score more goals/tries/land more punches/hit more aces ..."
In Brief
Guest
Well, I for one don't want to watch women's tennis.
In Brief
Guest
Not me - I'd prefer to watch an interview than women's tennis, it is painfully dull.
Mark
Guest
At least under 14 boys can spell correctly.
Jrod
Guest
This reporter writes junk, consistently. Old fashioned sensationalist style. Needs to understand he isn't writing for the herald sun.
Rob G
Guest
You make a good point. Who does want to watch women's tennis. There is no substance. It's like watxhing the under 14s boys. Next....
jamesb
Guest
"Roger Federer defeats James Duckworth 6-0 6-1 in just over 40 minutes of tennis." Life is tough, on and off the court.
ES
Guest
To be fair, David Lord's been a pretty vocal supporter of women's sport. He wrote a few articles in the space of a week on the Southern Stars, and in particular Ellyse Perry.
Chris-wood
Guest
Very well said, Mr. Lord......!!!
David Lord
Expert
Former Davis Cupper John Fitzgerald is no starstruck reporter,you would learn something Professor.
Albo
Guest
Seems he is yet another "next big thing" of Aussie tennis ! Perhaps if he is kept away from interviews & TV make up , he may have a better chance of converting to a half competitive player than the last 20 "next big things": !
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
I'm hoping this might be the start of a new trend, where nobody gets interviewed. There are few things more tedious than listening to a sportsperson blathering on about how they did or didn't play, usually interviewed by a starstruck reporter who asks questions that have already been answered. Although anyone who has watched sports highlights on Foxtel would have seen football managers talking about team performance, and that is definitely worse.
Urthor
Roar Rookie
Coming to the Roar because they're sick of the jingoistic and blind cheerleading of Australian sportsman in the papers? Don't worry, David Lord is here to spoil your day. Winston is totally correct, nationalism should not preclude giving Australians the right to watch the higher quality events. A true fan of sport wouldn't give a rat's ass what country the competitors are from, actions speak louder than the name on your passport. Not to mention the blatant subtext to this article, "who wants to watch women's tennis anyway, the men hit harder." Of course you should ignore the world #7 and tournament drawcard play #52 to focus on the men's #73 losing to the #125. That's exactly the attitude that should be brought to this sport. If Channel 7 switched to Tomas Berdych vs Simone Bolleli, you wouldn't have even considered writing this article.
Undertheposts
Guest
Disagree with the above comments. It only takes about a minute or so for a quick interview and this would only encroach a very short time at the start of the Ivanovich/Kanepri match. Yes, channel 7 could've done a little better there. Give the young guy some respect.
jamesb
Guest
Who is James Duckworth?
DanCol
Guest
99% of tennis fans would prefer to watch actual tennis than listen to an interview. The interviews are there for the broadcaster to use when there's no tennis not the other way around.
Winston
Guest
I completely disagree with this article. The Ivanovic match is a higher profile match and there's nothing wrong with pre-determined schedule to show that one. Your attitude is exactly what made the 2012 Olympics FTV coverage so unbearable that I had to immediately get Foxtel and ask them to install it urgently. They would rather show repeats of Australian swims from the night before rather than eg showing high profile clashes in other sports involving no Aussies. There was nearly no coverage on some sports. How was that good?