Tennis Channel — Why Not Replay Karlovic-Stepanek Ace Record Classic?

Joe Samuel Starnes — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:40:29 +0000

Tennis Channel has been an absolute blessing for American tennis fans who otherwise are treated by our networks with haphazard derision. But one Tennis Channel programming decision this week leading up to the Spain versus Czech Republic Davis Cup final starting 10 a.m. ET on Friday I don’t understand. Why not get the rights to replay the Radek Stepanek-Ivo Karlovic singles match in September in which Karlovic hit an all-time record 78 aces and still lost in five sets? Karlovic broke the previous world record of 55 aces by a whopping 23 and still lost! The only comparison in all of sports I can think of is in baseball: In 1959 Harvey Haddix pitched a perfect game for 12 innings and still managed to lose in the 13th.

I am sure I am not the only one who wants to see this match instead of the currently scheduled week of boring replays of Spain easily beating Israel, or the heartbreaking loss by Blake against Karlovic. I am curious if Stepanek didn’t just give up on Karlovic’s serve in some games, letting aces go by that might not have been aces, distorting the record book by returner’s indifference. I desperately want to see this match that produced the greatest anomaly in the history of tennis statistics. Come’on Tennis Channel, work it out somehow. But I guess I shouldn’t be too hard on the fledgling network. Without it, there would be no way we could see live coverage of Spain and the Czech Republic. I would be left to watch bowling or poker on ESPN.

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Tennis Channel — Why Not Replay Karlovic-Stepanek Ace Record Classic?