BBC fails to show Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter match

Telegraph

2 days ago

The BBC faced complaints from tennis fans after failing to show Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter's doubles match at Queen's on Monday.
Britain's top two women's players were allocated a secondary court at Queen's but the match against Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu was not readily available on BBC platforms, prompting heavy criticism.
BBC Two showed live coverage of British No 3 Sonay Kartal's match against Daria Kasatkina, while on iPlayer two channels showed that same match while the other hosted highlights of Czech player Petra Kvitova's three-set defeat by Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Raducanu and Boulter's match only featured briefly as part of BBC Two's coverage before it cut away back to Kartal's encounter.
Instead of being allocated a doubles slot on the newly named 7,700-capacity Andy Murray Arena, the British pair instead had to play on Court One, with a capacity of just 1,000.
One fan said she was 'outraged' at the decision. It meant her Centre Court ticket did not allow her to watch the game.
The smaller capacity Court One was therefore standing room only, while some took to the overhanging stand on the Andy Murray Arena to catch a glimpse of the action.
Spectators, who had queued for more than an hour to get in, had been told before the match that they would not be allowed to return if they left their seats. Those who had tickets for the main arena were peering over the back of the stand to watch Raducanu and Boulter in action at the end of the first game. It was not until midway through the second set in their match that a large television camera appeared at the side of the court, in an area which had been allocated to the media for standing.
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), who host Queen's, could not move the game to the main arena because of the tournament's contractual obligations with the organising partner, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). The WTA mandates that four singles matches are shown on Centre Court per day to satisfy its standing as international rights holders. It means there was no room for a doubles match to be moved despite the interest from spectators.
When asked about playing on Court One rather than the main arena, Raducanu said: 'I think sometimes on the smaller courts you get a bigger feel for the match and the atmosphere and the environment because it's a lot closer, more intimate, and you hear the support more.
'For me, I love playing on those smaller, outside courts where you really feel the support and the crowd gets into it. I was filling my bottle up, and I was literally having a chat in the stands, because that's how close it is. But I think it puts a really nice feel to it.
'The Andy Murray Arena, hopefully we'll get to play on it for our matches tomorrow.'