James Blake Calls Pam Shriver An Ass — During Play

Blake didn't take kindly to ESPN's sideline reporter analyzing his poor play within earshot. So he shared a few thoughts of his own with her.

Blake went down in straight sets today, but the highlight was him getting into it with Pam Shriver, who really should know better about talking loudly during a tennis match. Since it's kind of hard to hear in the video, FanHouse gives us the play-by-play:

Usually, if you haven't played, or only played one or two matches, you're actually quite eager," she said during a point. "You might not be match-tough, you might miss a lot of shots, but mentally you're not burned out.''

Perfect. Blake is burned out after coming back from an injury.

Two problems: Shriver speaks loudly. Shriver wasn't far from the court.

"Amazing you used to play tennis," Blake yelled up at her. "I can still hear you."

And then he went on to the next point. Note, he wasn't complaining about what she said, only that she was too loud. Up to there, no harm, no foul. Just an accident.

But then Shriver got defensive during the next point.

"James just yelled at me," she said, not talking any quieter, clearly wanting Blake to hear her again. "I'm way above the court, but evidently he can hear me. He's got rabbit ears."

Yes, he can hear you. And he's playing at Wimbledon. The normal response would have been to whisper.

"You have to be an ass about it, too?" Blake yelled after the next point. "And act like I'm at fault.''

And Shriver was offended again.

"And there he is, talking again," she said.

Sideline reporters have rarely, if ever added anything to the TV watching experience. Actively pissing off the players is a good start to making them relevant.

James Blake yells at ESPN commentator during match [Busted Raquet]