Mary Carillo

[sumithar]

Hi y'all,
I am posting this from the US. Not sure where the rest of you fellow-tennis-fans are from, but this is directed to the US guys.
Exactly what value-addition does Ms Carillo provide while calling tennis matches? In the past 3 years I have been subject to her I have yet to see her make one insightful remark.

For all his way-too-pro-American propensities, Johnny Mac atleast says really incisive things, stuff an average fan like me would never have known (though I hated his remarks about Mahesh Bhupathi in last year's Wimby doubles coverage!)

But Carillo, she is just a waste of space

[FulhamFan]

completely agree.


everyone I know hates her. Not only is she the worst tennis commentator , she's also the worst sports commentator of all time. Even worse than bob costas. however everyone on the internet seems to think she's one of the best.

All of her comments are stupid off court trivia that have nothing to do with the match. Johnny mac is the only one I know that actually contributes anything to a match. Pat mac is ok except its obvious he's on andy's balls. Why is Mal Washington on the sidelines while carillo gets a job in the booth? Also she never shuts up during points. argh

[R. Jayakrishnan]

What did McEnroe say about Mahesh Bhupathi last year during Wimbledon?

Jay

[sumithar]

Well Bhupathi has this strange stiff-gaited service, right? Well Mac, he kept going on and on about how stupid (can't remember the exact word) it was and how he was amazed that Bhupathi had been so successful in doubles with that service action and so on and so on.

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Oh, OK .. That is fine. McEnroe is one who has always said good things about Bhupathi (and his old partner Paes) in the doubles circuit.

Mahesh's serve is of course a weird looking one. One of the funniest things I ever saw was a few years back when they showed during one of the grand slams a funny routine from Joans Bjorkman imitating the serves of other players. he had some 6 or 7 serves; I think mostly the top singles players then. The one doubles specialist he did was Mahesh. He did a pretty good job of that strange windup with a body contortion and the face turned in some awkward direction ...

Jay

[FulhamFan]

speaking of weird service motions, have you seen mcenroe's? he does a weird stiff arm thing too.

If anyone had an outragious comment though it's carillo. During the period where seles was stabbed carillo said she was milking it to get more sympathy. bitch

[shtexas]

I remembered Carillo saying that, but I believe it was in the context of other players, etc. were wondering if Seles was milking it to get sympathy. I don't remember her stating that as her direct opinion, and as everyone knows, she is not shy about saying exactly what she means. She would not try to hide her opinion behind what others are saying.

[skipper]

she's a stupid bitch who sounds like a guy and is irritating as hell to listen to. someone should duct tape her mouth

[Mystery Man]

I have not had the misfortune to listen to the commentator called Carillo, who sounds as if she has all the worst possible faults. I watch tennis on television in the UK, watching Sky Sports, British Eurosport, and, sometimes, the BBC. The quality of the commentators varies tremendously. The main fault of them all is that they talk too much, and seem to feel that silence is a sign of failure, whereas it is not. One of the best that I hear regularly is Frew Macmillan, who is knowledgeable, concise, and laconic.

I also think it is a mistake to have two commentators dealing with the same match. When one stops talking, the other feels that he or she has to say something to fill the gap and then, they start having conversations between the two of them, joking and bantering, and getting in the way of the match. There is also a tendency for commentators to describe in words what the viewers have just seen on the screen, which is superfluous. The BBC commentators also have the fault of excessive patriotism and sentimentality, as well as being very self-satisfied.

Another complaint is the inability of many commentators to correctly pronounce some of the less familiar foreign names. No one is expecting commentators to speak all the possible languages of the world, but if they do their homework they ought to know how to pronounce approximately the names of all the players, and not make patronising jokes about the strangeness of the names. All they need to do is ask the player or to ask one of his compatriots how to pronounce the name. Some of the most frequent errors are: Rochus, Schalken, Sargsian.

And while I am at it -- this is becoming a semi rant -- some of the so-called experts who give assessments of upcoming matches are not much use either. Martina Hingis, who was a good (but limited) player, has absolutely nothing of interest to say about any of the matches she comments on. Her observations are usually completely empty.