ESPN Completes a Tennis Grand Slam with US Open

Multi-Platform, Worldwide Coverage: Bracket Draw Commercial Free on ESPNEWS August 27, 100 Hours on ESPN2, Nearly 400 on ESPN360.com; ESPN Radio/ESPN2’s “Mike & Mike” on Site Aug. 31 & Sept. 1
John & Patrick McEnroe to Team; Storm & Tirico Join as Host, Drysdale Completes 30th Year with ESPN

ESPN has televised tennis since its first week on the air nearly 30 years ago, but on Monday, August 31, it will do what no U.S. network has ever done – complete the Grand Slam by televising the US Open for the first time.  In the first year of a six-year agreement with the USTA, tennis fans will enjoy 100 hours in high definition on ESPN2, US Open update shows each weekday on ESPNEWS, nearly 400 hours on ESPN360.com’s multi-court offering and coverage across ESPN’s platforms in the U.S. and around the world.

ESPN’s multimedia coverage will begin Thurs., Aug. 27, with the live, exclusive announcement of the tournament’s brackets on ESPNEWS at noon ET.  Chris McKendry will host the half-hour, commercial-free show, with Mary Joe Fernandez and Patrick McEnroe.  Live interviews with defending champions Roger Federer and Serena Williams from New York are planned.

Before the first ball is in the air, ESPN’s first presentation from the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will be on ESPN Radio and ESPN2 with Mike & Mike in the Morning.  Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic will host their 6-10 a.m. show – heard on more than 350 radio stations (plus Sirius and XM Satellite Radio) and simulcast on ESPN2 – both Monday, Aug. 31, and Tuesday, Sept. 1.

During the first week of the tournament, ESPN2’s coverage will start at 1 p.m. each weekday and will continue non stop through both the day and evening sessions.  A one-hour US Open Scoreboard program will lead into Primetime at the US Open presented by IBM at 7 p.m. and until 11 p.m. or play is concluded, whichever is later.  The second week, ESPN2 will have Primetime at the US Open presented by IBM at 7 p.m. on Labor Day Monday, Sept. 7 (ESPN’s 30th Anniversary), followed by 12-hour windows Tuesday – Thursday starting at 11 a.m., with US Open Scoreboard at 6 p.m. and Primetime at the US Open presented by IBM at 7 p.m.

On the final day of the tournament, Sunday, Sept. 13, ESPN2 will televise live the women’s doubles championship at 1 p.m., and will review all the action at 9 p.m. with a special two-hour edition of SportsCenter presented by BMW at the US Open. Both weeks, ESPNEWS will present a two-hour weekday US Open update show at noon.  As with the other three Grand Slams, ESPN2 will work with Tennis Channel to bring fans virtually round-the-clock coverage during the US Open, each utilizing its own commentators. 

ESPN2’s Commentator Lineup

ESPN’s tennis team is led by Cliff Drysdale, completing his 30th year with ESPN.  The former US Open finalist has been with ESPN since its first tennis telecast September 14, 1979, exactly one week after the network launched, making him second in ESPN tenure among commentators behind only Bob Ley.  Chris Fowler, ESPN’s lead studio anchor for Grand Slam tennis since 2003, will serve as a host and call matches.  Mike Tirico of Monday Night Football and Hannah Storm of the weekday morning SportsCenter will make their debuts as a tennis host. 

They will team with John McEnroe, the four-time US Open champ who has joined ESPN for the event, plus familiar ESPNers Darren Cahill, Mary Carillo, Fernandez, Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver, plus Hall of Fame tennis journalist Bud Collins.  Shriver will frequently be utilized as a sideline reporter and as a roving reporter covering play in “outer courts”, as will Luke Jensen, and the McEnroes will at times be teamed together to form a sibling booth pairing.  In addition, Tom Rinaldi will provide essays and conduct interviews during the first week and Rick Reilly will contribute commentary.

Did You Know? – Cliff Drysdale appeared on the first color telecast in Great Britain.  It was at Wimbledon in 1967, when he played Roger Taylor on Centre Court on BBC2. 

Surveying the Fields

Roger Federer, who last month at Wimbledon broke the record for career titles at Grand Slam events with 15, will attempt to win the US Open for a sixth consecutive year, tying the record set by Bill Tilden in the 1920s (Tilden won seven overall.)  He will face a field led by Rafael Nadal, who missed Wimbledon but has six major titles and is seeking a career Grand Slam at the US Open; Andy Roddick, who has enjoyed a resurgent 2009 and took Federer to the limit in a five-set Wimbledon final; and Andy Murray, whose play this year has him ranked #2, best ever for a male British player.

Recent Wimbledon champ Serena Williams defends the woman’s US Open crown.  Ranked #2 in the world, she counts three titles in New York among her 11 major victories.  Her primary competition comes from top-ranked Dinara Safina; and #3-ranked Venus Williams, a two-time US Open winner.  Others to watch: 2006 champ Maria Sharapova and 2005 champ Kim Clijsters, who both are making comebacks, Sharapova from injury and Clijsters has returned this summer after more than two years away from competition, including having her first child.

More US Open from ESPN, Inc.

ESPN360.com, the company’s signature live sports broadband network, will webcast the action from five courts beginning at 1 p.m. the first five days. ESPN360.com will also simulcast ESPN2 for the full tournament (including the 6-7 p.m. US Open Scoreboard) select outer court coverage and a simulcast of the Women’s Doubles final for a total of approximately 380 hours of U.S. Open tennis on the web.  Other digital offerings:  

• ESPN.com will provide blanket coverage of the U.S. Open, with the latest news and scores, as well as commentary, photos and daily video news and summaries from ESPN commentators.
• ESPN Mobile Properties will present live action, press conferences and highlights packages.
• ESPN has the exclusive right to display a multi-court mosaic platform during its TV windows.

ESPN360.com is ESPN's live sports broadband network, giving fans a 24/7 online destination with more than 3,200 live events annually. It is available at no cost to fans with a high-speed Internet connection from an affiliated provider.  ESPN360.com is currently available in 41 million households – a majority of US broadband homes.  It is available via dozens of Internet Service Providers, including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, RCN, Insight, Frontier, Cavalier, Charter, Mediacom, Conway, Grande Communications and many more. It is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks (those with “.edu” and “.mil” domains).      

ESPN Interactive TV will be enjoyed exclusively on DIRECTV. During the ESPN2 telecast windows, a six-screen mosaic will include the ESPN2 program, along with matches from five other courts. In total, viewers will have access to more than 435 hours of live tennis action and 140 extra matches.  Production will be enhanced with press conferences, interviews and features that will be added during court changeovers and between matches.  All six screens can be expanded to full screen or picture-in-picture at the touch of the remote button.  In addition, DIRECTV will offer "Matches On Now," a graphic across the bottom with scores from each of the matches currently on the court channels, with the ability to tune directly to the match, and "Results," an instant look at real-time scores and schedule info for matches ahead – all without leaving the match the viewer is watching.

ESPN International will offer 140 live hours in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as well as in Brazil for the first time, in high definition on ESPN HD. Coverage to Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America will be anchored from New York by Luis Alvarez and Eduardo Varela (play-by-play), analysts Javier Frana and Jose Luis Clerc and reporters Nicolas Pereira and Sophie Cortina.  English-language coverage will feature Sam Gore and Mark Brown (play-by-play) and Arias and Rinaldi (analysis). In addition, ESPN360.com will feature 400 hours of live coverage in Chile and Mexico.

ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language U.S. network, will present the US Open for the first time, with 34 hours in daily coverage through September 10. Eduardo Varela will handle play-by-play with former tennis players Clerc and Pereira as analysts and reporter Cortina.  ESPN Deportes will feature a distinct production, focusing on Latino stars as well as the top-ranked players.  There will also be extensive reporting from Wimbledon ESPN Deportes’ SportsCenter. ESPNdeportes.com, the Spanish-language Web site serving fans in the U.S. and Latin America, will feature daily webisodes titled "ESPNiando en el US Open” with the latest news and information, exclusive interviews and chats, as well as updates on Twitter by Varela, Cortina, and Pereira and Alvarez.  Varela will also conduct a daily segment on ESPN Deportes Radio's morning drive show Al Amanecer.

ESPN Classic’s US Open Tribute – August 30

ESPN Classic will present a 12-hour marathon of great US Open matches the day before the action begins for 2009 on Sunday, August 30.  The action starts at noon with 16-year old Tracy Austin stunning the four-time defending champion Chris Evert-Lloyd in 1979 to become the youngest US Open winner ever, a memorable match celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2009.  The day-long drama concludes when an ageless Jimmy Connors, on his 39th birthday, outlasts 24-year old Aaron Krickstein to reach the 1991 quarterfinals 3-6, 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6. 

ESPN – All Four Slams, All In One Place

Tennis has been part of ESPN since its first week on the air and provided many memorable moments, but it has never been as important as today, with the US Open joining the lineup, giving ESPN all four Grand Slam events, something no other U.S. network has ever done, let alone in one year.

ESPN debuted September 7, 1979, and the first tennis telecast was exactly one week later, September 14, a Davis Cup tie, Argentina at U.S. from Memphis with Cliff Drysdale on the call. 

ESPN has presented the Australian Open since 1984, the French Open since 2002 (plus 1986 – 1993) and Wimbledon since 2003.

ESPN & the US Open

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