BBC disappoints with its tennis service

I AM emboldened by the amount of correspondence you have printed on the subject of tennis.

I, too, continue to be disappointed by the BBC coverage. I could forgive them for switching the News to BBC2 – an appalling lack of perspective – to accommodate Andy Murray if they showed the slightest interest in tennis outside the Wimbledon fortnight.

My wife and I have sold our souls to the devil which is Sky in order to enjoy excellent, unbiased coverage of the other Grand Slams as well as the ATP tour.

Moreover, Sue Barker seems incapable of interviewing overseas players without talking about Andy Murray. Does she expect any more than courteous platitudes? Other pundits put pressure on the Scot by routinely tipping him to win matches which, statistics suggest, he is entitled to lose. Are they afraid of upsetting him? However, I was dismayed by the gratuitous personal attacks on Murray by a couple of your letter writers who are clearly not tennis fans.

May I respond with a quote from another broadsheet article written after his defeat by Rafael Nadal: “Tennis is the purest of games, a perfect synthesis of physical prowess and mental agility and in Murray we have a player to relish and applaud to the rafters. Cheer up and enjoy your strawberries.”

From: Aled Jones, Mount Crescent, Bridlington.

HOW many others, I wonder, would have enjoyed Wimbledon more if, instead of dishing out free Centre Court passes to wealthy footballers and actors, the All England Club had donated those same tickets to a sick children’s ward or such like? What a fantastic caring gesture that would have been. There is no need to give celebrities tickets they can easily afford themselves.