Tennis Channel will welcome a new, yet familiar face to their broadcast team this summer.
Five-time US Open champion Jimmy Connors will be the lead analyst during the network’s upcoming telecast from Flushing Meadows in August, its inaugural coverage of America’s largest tennis tournament.
Connors, who most recently worked as a part of the British Broadcasting Company’s (BBC) Wimbledon on-air team and coached top American player Andy Roddick, has not appeared in a televised tennis booth for a U.S. network since 1991.
Connors will team with other lead analyst Martina Navratilova, primary commentator for all Tennis Channel Grand Slam telecasts, as well as veteran sportscaster and 19-year US Open anchor Bill Macatee.
“I’m very happy to join Tennis Channel’s on-air team during its first US Open coverage, and to work with Bill Macatee, Martina Navratilova and the rest of the team,” said Connors. “The US Open has a special place in my heart and in the hearts of American tennis fans, and no other tournament in the world can match its drama and the electricity.”
Tennis Channel’s US Open coverage begins Monday, Sept. 1, at 11 a.m. and continues throughout the two-week tournament.
In addition to more than 60 hours of live matches, including those in exclusive prime time over Labor Day weekend, the network will feature the official US Open highlights show for an hour each evening at 11 p.m. ET, before alternating throughout the late and early morning hours between US Open highlight and interview shows and “best match” replays, under an umbrella tentatively named US Open Tonight.
With the US Open in 2009, Tennis Channel will plant its studio flag at each of tennis’ four Grand Slams. The network has been covering the French Open since 2007, and added both the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2008.
