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Jimmy Arias Is The Best Tennis TV Analyst
2 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Jimmy Arias is busy this week working for Tennis Channel broadcasting Acapulco and Santiago matches. I watched two he did with Abagail Johnson and Jimmy made both matches better.
The first was Garin vs Ficovich in Chile on clay, a seemingly ordinary, boring match between two journeyman players but Arias brought the match to life with his observations. Wildcard Garin has been struggling, way down from his career high of 17 ranking. Jimmy noted the home crowd was trying to inspire Garin and on cue, Garin made a few shots and then a backhand pass that ignited the stadium, just moments after the comment. Garin then rode the wave and won the second and third sets both 64 after losing the first.
Other memorable observations were that Ficovich was a solid counterpuncher but he couldn’t generate his own power on the forehand. Also Ficovich has been stuck in Challengers for years and hasn’t had much success on the main tour. Everything Arias said, came to fruition. He doesn’t just babble the same cliches about big targets and trusting processes. Arias is funny too. He talks and you just know he’s smiling and enjoying studying the match and applying his expertise as a former Grand Slam champion in mixed and a top 5 player.
The second match was last night in Acapulco, Rune vs. Baena. Baena beat Rune in four sets at US Open last year and was giving Rune another big fight again. Rune seemingly was in control and put himself in the winning position but Baena is a pit bull and fights like a demon. Rune couldn’t finish it off and then in the tiebreaker was up 5-0 but of course Baena refused to yield and ended up pressuring Rune to 74 but Rune was forced to play his best.
Arias noted, rather controversially, that Rune’s best level is equal to Carlos, Sinner but his B level is such that he can lose to much lower ranked players. Some pundits disagreed with that observation on twitter. But those armchair champs don’t know one tenth of what Arias knows about tennis. Sure, Arias could be wrong sometimes but he takes risks with his speculations and opinions, which many tennis analysts are afraid to do.
Watching Rune struggle vs Baena’s fighting spirit and Garin overcoming Ficovich were intriguing to watch, fully because of what Jimmy Arias said about the matches. If certain other TV experts were broadcasting these matches, I surely would have changed the channel but with Arias at the mic, you never know what he will say and observe.
Jimmy Arias is the very best TV tennis analyst today and he can make any match much better. Next time you watch a match with Jimmy Arias commentating, listen closely to everything he says. I’m certain you will appreciate his work.
Steve · February 27, 2025 at 9:12 am
Arias is definitely the best. Other favs of mine: Cliff Drysdale & Fred Stolle, Taylor Dent(like Stolle & Arias not afraid to speak the truth), Dual Hand Luke Jenson, Tracy Austin…and Ryan Harrison is doing well.
The McEnroes together automatically trigger the mute button for me. Just awful together. One McEnroe is okay but not two; and then you go down the nepotism hole in the tennis biz and it’s just a never-ending descent into hell.
Scoop Malinowski · February 27, 2025 at 5:58 pm
Steve I agree with your ears, also add Courier and Goodall as top analysts. McEnroes are still quite good but both have lost some of their mojo, both play it safe now, they will not rock any boats or take any chances to risk trouble. It’s okay they are legends of the game and TV booth. The only ones who devalue matches are Annacone, just too many cliches and redundancy, never anything insightful or interesting. I can’t recall one interesting thing Annacone said. But Arias is the very best. Any match he does, even this Kessler vs Bucsa right now, his observations and points make it a much more intriguing match. Arias deserves a huge contract.