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James Blake Yells At ESPN Pam Shriver During Wimbledon (video)
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by NowPublic Staff | June 22, 2010 at 03:45 pm
1564 views | 2 Recommendations | 1 comment
James Blake Yellls At Analyst Pam Shriver During Wimbledon First Round Match
At one point in his tennis career James Blake showed lots of potential now that promise seems to have dried up. James Blake was playing his first round match against Robin Haase of the Netherlands - a match he lost in straight sets.
But during the match he started arguing or bickering with ESPN analyst Pam Shriver who was providing color commentary from the stands. Shriver was making fair criticisms of Blake's performance but she clearly was a distraction to Blake.
The good people at Fanhouse provided this transcription of Pam Shriver's commentary and her interaction with James Blake.
"Usually, if you haven't played, or only played one or two matches, you're actually quite eager," she said during a point. "You might not be match-tough, you might miss a lot of shots, but mentally you're not burned out.''
Perfect. Blake is burned out after coming back from an injury.
Two problems: Shriver speaks loudly. Shriver wasn't far from the court.
"Amazing you used to play tennis," Blake yelled up at her. "I can still hear you."
And then he went on to the next point. Note, he wasn't complaining about what she said, only that she was too loud. Up to there, no harm, no foul. Just an accident.
But then Shriver got defensive during the next point.
"James just yelled at me," she said, not talking any quieter, clearly wanting Blake to hear her again. "I'm way above the court, but evidently he can hear me. He's got rabbit ears."
Yes, he can hear you. And he's playing at Wimbledon. The normal response would have been to whisper.
"You have to be an ass about it, too?" Blake yelled after the next point. "And act like I'm at fault.''
And Shriver was offended again.
"And there he is, talking again," she said.
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ESPN's Pam Shriver acted like a petulant prima donna as opposed to a seasoned tennis analyst. If an audience member is speaking too loudly or being noisy then they are asked to keep quiet, if they continue their behavior their are escorted out of the stadium, end of story.
Pam Shriver clearly interrupted James Blake while he was playing, not once but twice and she was upset?
Wimbledon officials likely do not want to offend their broadcast partner so nothing was done but ESPN should do something make Shriver apologize for her unprofessional behavior.
As for James Blake it is sad to see the state of his game. James Blake was once ranked 4th in the world in November of 2006, he is now 110th.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 21:52 on June 22nd, 2010
Not so bad on his part, I think he was just frustrated on the court.