Men's Tennis
Results/Schedules
ATP Rankings
Players
Message board
Women's Tennis
Results/Schedules
WTA Rankings
Players
Message board
 Sunday, July 9
Venus wins for television, too
 
 Associated Press

WIMBLEDON, England -- Venus Williams' run to the Wimbledon title drew strong TV audiences for NBC.

Her straight-set victory over Lindsay Davenport in the singles final Saturday drew a big-market overnight rating of 6.0.

That's an increase of 22 percent over a year ago, when Davenport's victory over Steffi Graf, played on Sunday because of rain, garnered a 4.9 overnight.

The final hour of the semifinal between Venus and her younger sister, U.S. Open champion Serena -- a match NBC aired on tape-delay Thursday afternoon -- pulled in a 5.0 overnight rating.

The matches helped boost NBC's overnight average for eight days of coverage from the All England Club to 3.3, 18 percent higher than the 2.8 earned to that point of the 1999 tournament.

Overnight ratings are based on the nation's largest cities and cover about 60 percent of U.S. households. Full national ratings will be released this week.

NBC said it will televise the Williams sisters play Julie Halard-Decugis and Ai Sugiyama in the Wimbledon women's doubles final Monday. The match, slated for Sunday, was postponed because of rain.

Wimbledon goes mostly for the dry look
Except for the showers in Sunday's final between Pete Sampras and Pat Rafter, this year's two-week run at Wimbledon had been nearly rain-free.

Although this year has been relatively dry but with little sunshine, the last several Wimbledons have been rain-soaked.

Last year, rain completely washed out play on the second Tuesday. Two years ago, rain also plagued the fortnight. And 1997 went down in the Wimbledon record books as one of the wettest ever.

That year play was completely washed out on the first Thursday and Friday. In 1996, rain on four days during the second week pushed back women's doubles until Monday.

The forecast for Monday at Wimbledon also looks dubious.

"Monday should be fairly cold and blustery with afternoon showers and heavier rain," said a spokesman for the Met Office, Britain's weather service. "It doesn't look very promising."

Royal box needs addition
They were running out of room Sunday in the Royal Box at Wimbledon.

Newly knighted Sean Connery was there. So was Australian Prime Minister John Howard and American ambassador to Britain, Philip Lader.

There were also a few tennis greats around: four-time Wimbledon runner-up Ken Rosewall, 1960 champion Neale Fraser, 1949 champion Ted Schroeder, and 1952 champion Frank Sedgeman. Also on hand was International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Also on hand in the star-studded audience was Tom Hanks, celebrating his 44th birthday. He chatted before the match with former Wimbledon champion John McEnroe.

Looking up
This is how tennis is evolving. The two women's finalists -- Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport -- were taller than the two men's finalists. Pete Sampras and Pat Rafter are both listed at 6-foot-1. Venus Williams is 6-1 and Lindsay Davenport is 6-2½.

 


ALSO SEE
Is Sampras best ever? Too tough to call

Second-set tiebreak collapse sinks Rafter

Sampras tops Rafter, rain for historical title

Johnson-Po win mixed; Williamses' doubles final postponed

Washington: Summing up Sampras' Slams

Sampras' all-time Grand Slam singles results