Broadcasters of tennis grand slams (through 2006)
Australian Open
Historical Networks
As originally written by JohnnyO
OTA:
CBS (1974)
Hughes Sports Network (Syndicated) (1978-1979)
ABC (2022-Present) - Taped Highlights
Cable:
ESPN/ESPN2 (Exclusively 1984 - 2007)
ESPN2 (With TTC 2008 - Present)
TTC (2008 - Present)
ESPN (2013)
Notes:
- TTC's 2008 coverage began as part of rights 'exchange' between ESPN2 and TTC that covered the Australian (through 2016) and French Opens (through 2015). After ESPN stopped airing the French Open, TTC continued to air the Australian Open.
- In 2013, ESPN originally scheduled all coverage for ESPN2, but moved live coverage of the men's semi's and both single's finals to ESPN during the tournament, announcing the move on the day of the first men' semi.
1978
As originally written by JohnnyO
1978 French Open & Australian Open
Relying on a post by ReganBuffalo in another thread that quotes the Washington Post on 3/26/78, these tournaments were part of a series of "eight syndicated telecasts, produced by the independened Hughes Sports Network and sold a commercial stations on an individual market basis by Taft Broadcasting...Six more tournaments are scheduled on Hughes: the Italian and French Opens, Washington Star International, Canadian Open, U.S. Pro Championships and Australian Open, all slotted for 6 to 8 p.m. Saturdays and 5 to 7 p.m. Sundays, Eastern time."
That would place Bud Collins and Donald Dell on these finals.
1988
1988 Woman's Final; ESPN
Steffi Graf vs Chris Evert
Roger Twibell, Cliff Drysdale, Fred Stolle, Betsy Nagelsen
1989
1989 Woman's Final; ESPN
Steffi Graf vs Helena Sukova
Cliff Drysdale, Mary Carillo, Fred Stolle
1991
1991 Men's Final; ESPN
Boris Becker vs Ivan Lendl
Cliff Drysdale, Fred Stolle, Mary Carillo
1992
1992 Men's Final; ESPN
Jim Courier vs Stefan Edberg
Cliff Drysdale, Fred Stolle, Mary Carillo
1993
1993 Ford Australian Open Woman's Final; ESPN
Monica Seles vs. Steffi Graf
Cliff Drysdale, Mary Carillo
1996
1996 Ford Australian Open Woman's Final ESPN
(Yes, the Aussie Open was sponsored by Ford that year, and Ford was part of the official name.)
Cliff Drysdale, Betsy Nagelsen
Monica Seles vs. Anke Huber
1996 Men's Final; ESPN (Ford Australian Open)
Cliff Drysdale, Fred Stolle
Boris Becker vs Michael Chang
1997
1997 Men's Quarterfinal; ESPN
Pete Sampras vs Albert Costa
Cliff Drysdale, Patrick McEnroe
2001
2001 Woman's Final; ESPN
Jennifer Capriati vs Martina Hingis
Mary Jo Fernandez, Pam Shriver
2002
2002 Woman's Final; ESPN
Jennifer Capriati vs Martina Hingis
Cliff Drysdale, Pam Shriver, Mal Washington
This was Cliff's last woman's final after many years as THE lead tennis announcer at ESPN.
2003
2003 Woman's Final; ESPN
Venus Williams vs. Serena Williams
Chris Fowler, Pam Shriver, Mary Carillo, Mal Washington, Mary Jo Fernandez
2004
2004 Men's Final; ESPN
Roger Federer vs. Marat Safin
Cliff Drysdale, Patrick McEnroe, Mary Carillo, Mal Washington
This was the last year that the Men's final aired live on ESPN. The Men's final moved to Sunday evening local time & ESPN2 in 2005.
2005
2005 Women's Semi-Final; ESPN2
Serena Williams vs. Maria Sharapova
Dick Enberg, Mary Carillo, Pam Shriver (Chris Fowler & Mary Jo Fernandez introduced the match & provided commentary between sets)
French Open
Historical Networks
As originally written by JohnnyO
Roland Garos (aka, French Open)
OTA:
NBC (1975-1977)
Hughes Sports Network (Syndicated) (1978-1979)
CBS (1980 - 1982)
NBC (1983 - Present)
Notes:
Live Coverage of Men's Final began in 1983.
Live Coverage of the Woman's final began in 2003.
Cable:
ESPN (1986 - 1993)
USA (1994 - 2001)
ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNC (2002-2006)
ESPN2/TTC (2007-2015)
TTC (2016-Present)
Bally Sports (2021-Present)
Notes:
In 2007, TTC won the cable rights to the French Open. ESPN2's coverage 2007 - 2015 was a sub-lease of rights from TTC, and also included a reciprocal sub-lease of some of ESPN2's Australian Open coverage to TTC through 2016.
1978
As originally written by JohnnyO
1978 French Open & Australian Open
Relying on a post by ReganBuffalo in another thread that quotes the Washington Post on 3/26/78, these tournaments were part of a series of "eight syndicated telecasts, produced by the independened Hughes Sports Network and sold a commercial stations on an individual market basis by Taft Broadcasting...Six more tournaments are scheduled on Hughes: the Italian and French Opens, Washington Star International, Canadian Open, U.S. Pro Championships and Australian Open, all slotted for 6 to 8 p.m. Saturdays and 5 to 7 p.m. Sundays, Eastern time."
That would place Bud Collins and Donald Dell on these finals.
1984
As originally written by JohnnyO
1984 French Open Women's Final, NBC
Dick Enberg, JoAnne Russell, Bud Collins
Chris Evert-Lloyd vs. Martina Navritlova
1984 French Open Men's Final, NBC
John McEnroe vs. Ivan Lendl
Dick Enberg, Bud Collins
1986
As originally written by JohnnyO
1984 French Open Women's Final, NBC
Dick Enberg, JoAnne Russell, Bud Collins
Chris Evert-Lloyd vs. Martina Navritlova
I have not seen the 1985 women's final, but it is likely exactly the same as 84 & 86, all the way down to Chrissy vs Martina.
1989
As originally written by JohnnyO
1989 French Open Women's Final, NBC
Dick Enberg, JoAnne Russell, Bud Collins
Steffi Graf vs. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
Tape delayed coverage of this match was actually JIP with the beginning of the second set. The MLB game of the week ran long, and the entire match could not fit in the remaining allotted time, so the first set was not shown. This was JoAnne Russell last year working the French Open for NBC.
1991
As originally written by JohnnyO
Sunday June 9, 1991
1991 French Open Men's Final, NBC, 9 AM ET
Jim Courier vs. Andre Agassi
Dick Enberg, Bud Collins, Jimmy Connors, JoAnne Russell
1996
As originally written by lupojohn
1996 French Open semifinal
Pete Sampras vs Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Dick Enberg, John McEnroe, Bud Collins, NBC
The other semifinal between Marc Rosset and Michael Stich wasn't shown in the US.
2000
As originally written by JohnnyO
2000 French Open Men's Final, NBC
Ted Robinson, John McEnroe, Bud Collins
Gustavo Kuerten vs. Magnus Norman
Robinson's first men' Slam final for NBC, this match just re-aired today on TTC, with Kuerten scheduled to be inducted in the Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Wimbeldon
Historical Networks
As originally written by JohnnyO
The Championships (aka Wimbeldon)
OTA:
ABC (1963-1964) - Under the WWOS Banner
NBC (1969 - 2011)
ABC (2012-Present) - Taped Highlights on Middle Sunday between 2012-2021, with live coverage commencing in 2022; Same-day replays of ESPN Coverage of Men's & Women's Finals
Notes:
Live Coverage of Men's Final began in 1979.
Cable
HBO (1975-1999)
TNT/CNNSI (2000-2001)
TNT/CNNFN (2002)
ESPN/ESPN2 (2003 - Present) Became Exclusive US Rights Holder in 2012
TTC (2008 - Present) BBC replays only, via separate contract with the AELTC.
ESPNews (2014)
Notes:
TTC's coverage consists of "Wimbledon Tonight" only; no live matches...In 2014, ESPN was broadcasting Group Play from the World Cup in Brazil during the first four days of Wimbledon. Coverage ran on ESPN until 11:30 AM ET each day, when ESPN and ESPN2 were both showing World Cup matches, so Wimbledon coverage moved to ESPNNews exclusively until 2 PM, when ESPN2 would join in a simulcast.
1970
As originally written by JohnnyO
BBC; Dan Maskell, Jack Kramer, Ann Jones
Women's Final, Margaret Court vs. Billie Jean King
As Court and King left Center Court at the end of the match, Maskell left the booth, and Kramer introduced Peter West, who was there presumably to call the next match (a doubles match) on the day's schedule.
1973
As originally written by JohnnyO
BBC; Dan Maskell, Ann Jones
Women's Final, Chris Evert vs. Billie Jean King
1975
As originally written by JohnnyO
BBC; Dan Maskell, Bill Threlfall
Men's Final, Ashe vs. Connors
I suspect that this duo did many other finals together.
The view into the NBC booth is quite frequent during this tape, so I am going to guess that NBC had Bud Collins and Rosie Casals on this match.
Casals seems possible since she had recently called the Billie Jean King Bobby Riggs 'Battle of the Sexes" match from the Astrodome. Also, the idea of NBC using an active player of the opposite gender is consistent with NBC using John Newcombe alongside Collins on the 1978 Ladies final .
One interesting note: This was the first year that players were allowed to sit on the changeovers.
1978
As originally written by JohnnyO
Announcers confirmed for the Woman's Final Only
NBC;
Host; Jim Simpson (joined by Hilary Hilton during the Woman's Final)
Play-by-Play; Bud Colllins
Analyst; John Newcombe
The finals in 1978 were Evert vs. Navratilova for the ladies, and Borg vs. Connors for the Gentleman.
NBC aired 6.5 hours of taped delayed coverage on Saturday, July 8, 1978, starting with the ladies final, and then the gentleman's final. The ladies final was actually played on Friday, July 7, but was tape delayed by a full day. The gentleman's final was aired on same-day tape delay. Any confirmation of the start time of this coverage is appreciated. (Maybe "10 AM in all time zones" has been around for a very long time?) This is all based on NBC's opening and lead-in to the ladies final, and the front page of the Newport Daily News (Newport, RI) from July 7, 1978 (as viewed on newspaperarchive.com).
At this point, I would assume the same announcers worked the gentleman's final. There are copies of that match available on the internet, so direct confirmation is possible.
Other Notes:
- This was the last year before NBC began "Breakfast at Wimbledon", i.e., airing the gentleman's final live.
- Bud Collins identified the statistician for the ladies final as Steve Flink, today a respected tennis journalist.
- Bud Collins also identified individual linesman (not just the umpire) by name, something unheard of today.
- An interview with Ted Tingling, the legendary tennis fashion designer, interrupted the tape-delayed ladies final at 2-1 in the 3rd set.
- The Tennis Channel re-air of this match from 2008 consistently super-imposed a graphic indicating a date of July 1, 1978, but, as noted above, I believe this is incorrect.
- The Ladies winner earned $ 30,000, and the loser earned $ 14,600
- Ball girls were not allowed on Centre Court as of 1978; Only ball boys were allowed.
1980
As originally written by JohnnyO
BBC; Dan Maskell, John Barrett, Mark Cox
Men's Final, Borg vs. McEnroe
The view into the NBC booth is quite frequent during this tape, so I am going to guess that NBC had Bud Collins and Donald Dell on this match. I am certain that Collins was there for NBC, as I have many times heard his "Be-yorn has won it!" call as the match ended.
U.S. Open
Historical Networks
As originally written by JohnnyO
OTA
NBC 1962
CBS (1968 - 2014)
Cable
USA (1984-2008)
CNBC (2006-2008)
ESPN2/TTC (2009 - 2014)
CBSSN (2012-2014)
ESPN/ESPN2 (2015 - Present)
CNBC coverage was the Labor Day night session JIP at 9 PM, as USA cut away from the tennis to air wrestling.
CBSSN showed live coverage of qualifying matches, and also alternate coverage on Labor Day Weekend that ran concurrent with CBS' coverage window
1976
As originally written by JohnnyO
1976 US Open Men's Final; CBS; Jimmy Connors vs. Bjorn Borg
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, Arthur Ashe
This match was played on clay at the West Side Tennis Cub in Forest Hills, Queens, NY. The US Open was played on clay from 1975-1977, before moving to hard courts at its current home in Flushing, NY.
During the third set tie-breaker, at 9-9, the players failed to change ends, and were preparing to play the next point when a ball boy alerted the umpire to the mistake. The umpire, players, and announcers had all failed to notice, as the "first-to-seven, ahead by two" tie-breaker was only in its second year of use at the US Open.
1978
As originally written by JohnnyO
1978 US Open Women's Final, CBS
Pat Summerall (First Set only), Tony Trabert (Second Set only), Virginia Wade, Billie Jean King
Chris Evert vs. Pam Shriver
Interesting to note that Summerall and Trabert were not in the booth at the same time for this match. Summerall was on PBP for the first set, then for the second set, Summerall left, and Trabert came in for PBP and analysis.
1979
As originally written by JohnnyO 1979 US Open Women's Final, CBS Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, Virginia Wade (Tracey Austin vs. Chris Evert-Lloyd)
1980
As originally written by JohnnyO
1980 US Open Men's Final CBS
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe
John McEnroe vs. Bjorn Borg
Newcombe was on the court and directly underneath the umpire's chair, and was not in the booth with Trabert and Summeral.
1981
As originally written by JohnnyO
1981 US Open Men's Semi-Final #1 CBS
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe
John McEnroe vs. Vitas Gerulalitas
1981 US Open Women's Final, CBS
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, Virginia Wade
(Tracey Austin vs. Martina Navritalova)
1981 US Open Men's Final CBS
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe
John McEnroe vs. Bjorn Borg
1982
As originally written by JohnnyO
1982 US Open Men's Final CBS
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe
Jimmy Connors vs. Ivan Lendl
This match was JIP on many affiliates as various early NFL games ended on CBS. John Tesh had an on-court interview with Connors after the match.
1983
As originally written by JohnnyO
1983 US Open Women's Final, CBS
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, Virginia Wade
Chris Evert-Lloyd vs. Martina Navritalova
1984
As originally written by JohnnyO
1984 US Open Men's Semi-Final #1 CBS (Newcombe for Sets 3, 4, and 5 only)
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe
Pat Cash vs. Ivan Lendl
Newcombe was not in the booth for Sets 1 and 2. He had played in an exhibition match with Stan Smith to start the day, was presumably showering and changing clothes until the third set.
1984 US Open Men's Semi-Final #2 CBS
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe
John McEnroe vs. Jimmy Connors
1984 US Open Women's Final, CBS
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe
Chris Evert-Lloyd vs. Martina Navritalova
1985
1985 US Open Men's Final CBS
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe
John McEnroe vs. Ivan Lendl
1987
As originally written by JohnnyO
1987 U.S. Open Women's Semi-Final; CBS; Steffi Graf vs. Lori McNeil
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, Mary Carillo
The aftermath of this match would be remember for one of the strangest events in the history of television news. With the match running long, there were some concerns that the CBS Evening News would not start on time (the big story that day was Pope John Paul II's visit to Miami) to the extent where it was reported that Dan Rather was threatening a no-show if it ran into the news slot.
The match ran two minutes long, the switch was thrown to Miami...and sure enough Rather was AWOL; leaving the CBS affiliates stuck with about 6 minutes of time to kill until Rather was brought back.
1987 US Open Woman's Final; CBS; Steffi Graf vs. Martina Navratilova
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, Mary Carillo, Pam Shriver
Shiver did not start the match initially, and then was in the studio underneath the stands for a few games before coming upstairs to join Summerall, Trabert & Carillo. Tim Ryan and Barry McKay interviewed Ivan Lendl while Graf & Navratilova were warming up. Also, this final was unusual for its time in that it was played after both men's singles semi-finals.
Typically, the women's final was played in between the two men's semi-final matches, and this was the standard through 1995. In 1996 & 1997 the women's final was moved to Sunday, and then back to Saturday (in between the men's semi's again) in 1998. In 1999 & 2000 it followed both men's semi's (just like 1987).
1987 US Open Men's Final CBS
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe
Mats Wilnader vs. Ivan Lendl
During the fourth set of this match, Jim Nantz reported on the live call of the match going back to Sweden via telephone.
1988
As originally written by JohnnyO and ak482
1988 US Open Woman's Final; CBS; Steffi Graf vs. Gabriella Sabatini
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, Mary Carillo
1988 US Open Men's Final, CBS: Mats Wilander vs. Ivan Lendl
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, Mary Carillo, Tim Ryan (host/interviews/ceremony), Pat O'Brien (interviews).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux2j_TOVUIk
A few coverage notes: this marathon 5-setter went a record 4 hours, 55 minutes (since matched at the US Open by the Murray-Djokovic final in 2012) thus screwing up CBS's primetime lineup. Also, CBS ran a Lions-Rams game at 4, presuming since the Rams were blacked out, only to Detroit and Lions secondary markets. Those markets joined in the tennis coverage early in the 4th set.
1989
As originally written by JohnnyO
Thursday, September, 7, 1989
US Open Men's Quarterfinal, USA; 3:50 PM ET
Jimmy Connors vs Andre Agassi
Ted Robinson, Barry McKay, Vitas Gerulaitis
Saturday, September, 9, 1989
1989 US Open Women's Final, CBS ; 2:15 PM ET
Steffi Graf vs. Martina Navratilova
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, Mary Carillo, Leslie Visser
1990
As originally written by JohnnyO
Sunday, September, 9, 1990
1990 US Open Men's Final, CBS ; 4:20 PM ET
Andre Agassi vs. Pete Sampras
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, Mary Carillo, John Dockery
Pre-match opening and post match closing hosted by Tim Ryan.
1991
As originally written by JohnnyO
Monday, September, 2, 1991
1991 US Open, Men's Fourth Round, CBS ; 2:13 PM ET
Jimmy Connors vs. Aaron Krickstein
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, Mary Carillo, John McEnroe (Sets 1 & 2 Only), Andrea Joyce
While commentating for this match, McEnroe indicated that 1992 would be his last year on tour. Not sure if this was his official retirement announcement or not.
Thursday, September, 5, 1991
US Open Men's Quarterfinal, USA; 7:30 PM ET
Jimmy Connors vs Paul Haarhuis
Ted Robinson, Barry McKay, Vitas Gerulaitis, John McEnroe, Linda Pentz
During this match, there were some references to a couple of times (once in 1990, once in 1991) when Patrick McEnroe had joined Ted, Barry and Vitas in the USA booth. I need to research those, and will add them here.
1991 US Open Women's Final, CBS
Pat Summeral, Tony Trabert, Mary Carillo, Andrea Joyce
(Monica Seles vs. Martina Navritalova)
In-match 'sideline' reports by Andrea Joyce
1992
As originally written by JohnnyO
Saturday, September, 12, 1992
1992 US Open Men's Semi-Final, CBS ; 11:15 AM ET
Stefan Edberg vs. Michael Chang
Pat Summerall, Tony Trabert, Mary Carillo, Andrea Joyce
This is the longest Tie-Break era match in US Open History, at 5 hours, 26 minutes.
As the announcers called this match, the conversation naturally drifted to Saturday, September 8, 1984, when the first Men's Semi-Final of the day between Lendl and Cash took 4 hours and 40 minutes. Summerall and Trabert revealed that they had called and recorded live commentary for the first match of that day, an exhibition match between Stan Smith and John Newcombe. It was intended as filler for CBS if the scheduled matches finished before CBS's coverage window ended, and was obviously not needed and never aired.
1995
As originally written by JohnnyO
Another year of transition for CBS. Tony Trabert left the booth this year, after Pat Summeral's departure a year earlier. Trabert handled on the court ceremony after both matches.
September 9, 1995; 2:40 PM ET; US Open Women's Final, CBS
Jim Nantz, Martina Navritlova, Mary Carillo, Andrea Joyce
(Steffi Graf vs. Monica Seles)
Pre-match opening hosted by Pat O'Brien...Trabert was on-court with a CBS mic for the trophy ceremony...This match was played after the Sampras-Courier semi-final, and before the Agassi-Becker semi-final...Time given is approximately when the first ball was struck.
1995 US Open Men's Final, CBS
Tim Ryan, John McEnroe, Mary Carillo, Andrea Joyce
(Andre Agassi vs. Pete Sampras)
Pre-match opening hosted by Pat O'Brien.
1996
As originally written by lupojohn and JohnnyO
1996 US Open 4th Round
Louis Armstrong Stadium
Martina Hingis vs Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
Steffi Graf vs Anna Kournikova
Andre Agassi vs David Wheaton
Tim Ryan, Mary Carillo, John McEnroe
Grandstand
Javier Sanchez vs Arnaud Boetsch
Thomas Enqvist vs Tomas Muster
Sean McDonough, Tony Trabert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52qOJx7sgdY
Thursday, September, 5, 1996
US Open Men's Quarterfinal, USA; 3:47 PM ET
Pete Sampras vs. Alex Corretja
Bill McAtee, John McEnroe, Michael Barkann
This match is remembered for Sampras fighting through physical illness (vomiting on-court during the fifth set TB) to win the match.
1997
As originally written by JohnnyO
1997 US Open Woman's Semi-Final, CBS
Tim Ryan, Mary Carillo
Venus Williams vs. Irina Spirlea
It it likely that Ryan and Carillo also worked the women's final (Martina Hingis vs. Venus Williams)
This was one of the two years (96 & 97) that the women's final was played on Sunday at 2 PM, prior to the men's final. This was only possible because CBS was not carrying the NFL. To accommodate the switch in 97, the women's doubles final was played on "Super Saturday"
1999
As originally written by JohnnyO
1999 US Open Woman's Semi-Final; CBS; Martina Hingis vs. Venus Williams
Bill Macatee, John McEnroe Mary Carillo, Michele Tafoya
Because of a five hour rain delay, the women's semi finals ran long. This match finished around 8:15 PM, extending into prime time in the ET/CT zones.
1999 US Open Men's Final, CBS
Bill McAtee, John McEnroe, Mary Carillo
Andre Agassi vs Todd Martin
2002
As originally written by JohnnyO
2002 US Open Women's Final, CBS
Dick Enberg, John McEnroe, Mary Carillo, Pam Shriver
Venus Williams vs. Serena Williams
Tony Trabert hosted the post match trophy ceremony, and on-court interviews. Not sure if he was working for CBS or USTA at this point.
2003
As originally written by JohnnyO
2003 US Open Men's Final, CBS
Dick Enberg, John McEnroe, Mary Carillo, Pam Shriver
Andy Roddick vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero
Dick Enberg hosted the post match trophy ceremony, and on-court interviews.
I just watched this match. CBS used a constant set score bug in the lower left, and flashed an updated game score bug between points. For example, after the first point of a game, the score bug would expand to display "15-0", which would then retract as the server began the next point.
I watched this after having watched Roddick's Semi-Final. The SF was not the CBS feed, but instead was the "Internal Feed", with Sam Gore on PBP. Ashe was equipped with "Spot Shot" technology at the time, as it was frequently shown during the SF, but CBS never used it during the final. CBS was still using the high speed camera aimed at the baseline, dubbed the "Mac Cam".
Between 2000 and 2013, JCF is the only US Open Men's finalist who never won the tournament during his career.