ESPN signed a new deal with the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club in April and now tennis fans in the U.S. can see more Wimbledon tennis action in more ways than ever before.
Beginning on June 23 and continuing through July 6 and the men’s final, ESPN2 and other properties will be on the scene from the prestigious tournament as Roger Federer seeks to win his sixth straight title and break the mark he currently shares with Bjorn Borg. On the ladies’ side, Venus Williams looks to defend her crown and add a fifth Wimbledon title and build her Grand Slam collection to seven.
During the fortnight, ESPN2, starting at 7 a.m. today, is scheduled to present 98.5 hours, culminating with live men’s and women’s semifinal action on July 3 and July 4, respectively, as well as SportsCenter at Wimbledon coverage after the finals and NBC's coverage windows the following two days.
On the play-by-play call, Dick Enberg will work his 25th Wimbledon, sharing duties with Cliff Drysdale – the two-time Wimbledon semifinalist who has been with ESPN since its first tennis telecast in 1979. They will team with analysts Darren Cahill, Mary Carillo, Mary Joe Fernandez, Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver. Moreover, Brad Gilbert, an ESPN analyst 2004 – 2006, returns after a two-year coaching stint. Shriver will frequently work as a roving reporter covering play in “outer courts” and as a sideline reporter, as will Luke Jensen who will also appear on SportsCenter, ESPNEWS, ESPN Radio and ESPN.com.
Chris Fowler, who has served as ESPN’s studio host for Grand Slam tennis events since 2003, will host and call select matches. In addition, the doyen of tennis journalism Bud Collins will make his Wimbledon commentating debut for the sports programmer.
ESPN Deportes, featuring a distinct production focusing on Latino, as well as the top players, will serve up 51 hours from the London suburb, highlighted by daily coverage through the semifinals. Luis Alfredo Alvarez will handle play-by-play with former tennis player Javier Frana as analyst. There will also be extensive reporting from Wimbledon ESPN Deportes’ SportsCenter.
Digitally, broadband service ESPN360.com will present extensive live video with five streams of coverage, totaling 250 hours of programming. Match action will emanate from a variety of courts, plus there will be coverage of live press conferences.
In a first, ESPN Interactive TV will be seen in 30 million homes served by Dish Network and DirecTV. During the ESPN2 telecast windows over the first five days of competition, it will feature a six-screen mosaic: the ESPN2 feed, plus four feeds from outer courts and “Wimbledon Extra,” with look-ins on key matches, highlights, press conferences and interviews.
All six screens can be expanded to full size or picture-in-picture at the touch of the remote button. In addition, DirecTV will offer “Matches On Now,” a graphic across the bottom of the screen 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 this can occur without viewers leaving the match they are watching.
