NBC earned a 2.1 overnight Nielsen rating on Sunday for Novak Djokovic’s four-set win over Rafael Nadal in the men’s Wimbledon final, up 10.5% from a 1.9 overnight last year for Nadal’s straight-sets win over Tomas Berdych. The 2.1 overnight is down 50% from a 4.2 overnight in '09 for Roger Federer’s five-set win over Andy Roddick. NBC on Saturday earned a 1.8 overnight for Petra Kvitova’s first Grand Slam win over Maria Sharapova, flat with last year’s ladies’ final featuring Serena Williams-Vera Zvonareva. The 1.8 overnight is down 33% from a 2.7 rating in '09, which featured Serena defeating sister Venus Williams (THE DAILY).
CENTRE COURT SEAT: In L.A., Tom Hoffarth reviewed the 3D coverage of the Kvitova-Sharapova match, which was "available in nearly 200 theaters worldwide," and wrote unlike NBC's or ESPN's coverage, the 3D production stuck to the low-court angles." Most of the "live play was from eye-level behind the baseline, with the occasional head of a line judge getting in the way." Hoffarth: "That only added to the feel that you were actually there watching over his shoulder." Sharapova's "sharper-image shrieks ... became far more pronounced in this venue." And when a "blue-outfitted ballboy jumped up after a point, sprinted out to the net, grabbed the loose ball, and scrambled out of the picture, it was more than just another 'Avatar' moment," as the "surround-sound picked up every thump of his feet pounding the sod." Hoffarth wrote previous 3D experiments with football and basketball "work to some degree, but not as well as tennis or boxing." Hoffarth: "The screen is less cluttered, the combatants more intimate and dynamic" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 7/3).
PARTING SHOT: In Denver, Dusty Saunders noted broadcaster Dick Enberg "ended his 28 years of Wimbledon coverage on NBC and ESPN with a series of thoughtful opinions on ESPN2," and "among his best deal with TV coverage of professional tennis." Enberg said, "What can we do better? Don't forget the game. ... The TV trucks, our faces or our words are not of prime importance. The game, as The Bard has widely alluded, is the thing" (DENVER POST, 7/4).
ACROSS THE POND: SI.com's Jon Wertheim wrote there was a "vast ... range of talent and personality" on the BBC's Wimbledon broadcasting team. A "personal favorite" of Wertheim's was Boris Becker, who is "like a combination of Mike Myers' Dieter from Sprockets and Rainer Wolfcastle from The Simpsons." Meanwhile, Wertheim noted the BBC is "apparently reducing the role of the warm, articulate, knowledgeable Sue Barker," a move he calls "truly mystifying" (SI.com, 7/3).
