BBC risks learning the hard way that Andrew Castle and Co need a refresh

Telegraph

2 days ago

The BBC had a solid fortnight at Wimbledon, with many of the strengths and weaknesses of its coverage the same as ever. Since Sue Barker was, incorrectly, moved on, Clare Balding has been the lead presenter, supported by Isa Guha, and the pundit roster of John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Pat Cash, Tracy Austin, Tim Henman and Annabel Croft is a line-up that is firmly settled indeed, and bordering on stuck in the mud.
That said, the booking of Andre Agassi for the men's semi-final was a real coup. He was a breath of fresh air, charismatic and full of insights. The only downside was that he rather showed up some of the regulars. Andrew Castle didn't have a great tournament and has taken on the unfortunate status of the commentator that many watchers say they love to hate, and that can be a difficult position from which to escape, particularly if there's an A+ alternative like Andrew Cotter warming the bench.
One particular exchange with Agassi during the Carlos Alcaraz-Taylor Fritz semi-final found Castle wittering on about the various celebrities in the Royal Box and pointing them out to his American guest. This column bows to nobody in its admiration of Dame Elaine Paige, whose dominance of elite musical theatre in the early eighties saw her put together a sustained run of excellence with Evita-Cats-Chess-Sunset Boulevard, the likes of which we may never see again. But she was, unsurprisingly, not a figure of interest for Agassi. On and on Castle went, past the woman who had a top-10 hit with the haunting Memory from Cats, past Benedict Cumberbatch and Sachin Tendulkar, eventually offering up for Andre's consideration the wretched personage of Sir Nick Clegg, at whose mention the Las Vegas native had finally had enough.
Castle: 'That was Nick Clegg, our former deputy prime minister.'
Agassi: 'People watching are watching for tennis, not for this.'
Can we keep him?
For the final itself, McEnroe had his US commentary duties, so it was Henman and Castle with Todd Woodbridge. Henman and Woodbridge are perfectly acceptable co-commentators but not going to race the pulse. One wonders if Castle has been instructed to give a 'this is a national occasion not just a sports match' general interest feel to the commentary because there was again a lot of stuff about the celebs on show, the vibe around Wimbledon and all that. With such an exciting match-up, you'd have hoped the sport could speak for itself.
Another tennis star who has given the BBC coverage something different in recent years is Nick Kyrgios, but he had not been hired by the Beeb this time and instead had been snapped up by TNT Sports, which showed both finals live. Obviously the viewing figures will be a tiny fraction of the free-to-air BBC but, as Des Lynam wrote in these pages recently, rival broadcasters are circling for tennis and you wouldn't bet on the crown jewel being screwed down in the BBC display case forever if Wimbledon rights went on the open market.
That's tomorrow's problem, but over on TNT Sports on Sunday, an experiment: 'Wimbledon Watchalong'. A nice idea, and fortunately not a clone of the Jeff Stelling Soccer Saturday format where you don't get to see the action but instead have it erratically relayed to you by Paul Merson. In fact, the pictures of the Centre Court action were as on the BBC, with commentary from Alastair Eykyn but, innovatively, a studio panel of Dan Evans, Kyrgios and CoCo Vandeweghe chipping in with observations.
Some were very illuminating, such as Evans explaining about how Alcaraz was varying where he stood to receive the second serve. Some were enjoyably revealing, such as Kyrgios saying: 'When I used the underarm serve it is disrespectful to the game but when anyone else does it they are a genius'. Others were just left-field, such as the Aussie issuing a come-and-get me plea to Anne Hathaway: 'I'd love to invite her [to sit in my player's box]. She's my celebrity crush.' Vandeweghe's advice? 'Shoot your shot.'
Overall, the format worked, not least because it was helmed with humour and grace by Craig Doyle, who managed to get the best out of the unpredictable Kyrgios. Bit different, would watch again. The BBC's coverage, by contrast, is due a refresh.