LOS ANGELES, March 4, 2024 – Tennis Channel will add recently retired American stars John Isner (@JohnIsner) and CoCo Vandeweghe (@CocoVandey) to its on-air team at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., March 6-19. The two players, who ranked in the top 10 in singles and spent much of their careers among the country’s best tennis representatives, will offer match commentary during one of the most important events outside the sport’s four majors. Tennis Channel’s annual, exclusive coverage of the tournament and the Miami Open – sometimes referred to as “Fifth Slams” – will again dominate the month, with 25 days of matches March 6-31. The action begins Wednesday, March 6, at 1 p.m. ET.
Isner, who was ranked as high as No. 8 in singles and 14 in doubles, won 16 ATP Tour titles and finished the season as the top-ranked American men’s player eight times. He won the 2018 Miami Open singles championship and served a record 14,411 aces in ATP Tour and major singles matches. He made headlines outside of tennis circles when he won the longest match on record, a first-round Wimbledon contest that lasted more than 11 hours across three days, finally claimed at 70-68 in the fifth set.
“It’s always one of the most exciting times of year when the entire tennis world comes to America in March for the BNP Paribas Open,” said Isner. “I’m looking forward to interacting with the Tennis Channel team and our viewers during the tournament.”
Vandeweghe was a US Open doubles champion in 2018 and singles semifinalist at the Australian Open and US Open the year prior. Her top ranking was No. 9 in singles and, like Isner, 14 in doubles. She won six singles and doubles crowns as a player, and notably left her mark on the 2017 U.S. Fed Cup (now Billie Jean King Cup) championship. She won every singles and doubles match she played for the team that year, including three in the finals that gave the Americans their first title in 17 years. Vandeweghe has a career “Sunshine Double” on her resume as well, winning doubles titles in Indian Wells in 2016 and Miami in 2018.
“I can’t wait to get started with Tennis Channel during the BNP Paribas Open,” said Vandeweghe. “This is an amazing time in our sport, with so many rising stars on the men’s and women’s sides, and I love that it’s time for everyone to be in Southern California again.”
Tennis Channel, its second network T2 and its streaming-service Tennis Channel Plus will again turn March into “Match Madness” for aficionados of the sport in 2024. With stunning upsets, busted brackets and the best men’s and women’s players in the world chasing championships in Southern California and South Florida, the network’s platforms will become the round-the-clock home of each event for the next month. More than 550 total hours of coverage are planned this year, from first ball opening day to trophy ceremonies on championship Sunday. Typical lineups include 12-hour blocks of live competition, followed by all-night encore replays (complete schedule below).
Coverage at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden will begin at 1 p.m. ET most days, with lead-in show Tennis Channel Live at the BNP Paribas Open. Matches start at 2 p.m. ET. Tennis Channel plans to show more than 110 hours of live television this year, and another 150-plus hours of encores, for more than 250 total hours dedicated to the tournament. On Saturday, March 17, at 2 p.m. ET, the women’s singles final will take place, followed by the men’s singles championship at 5 p.m. ET.
A similar schedule is in place for Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. The key difference is in Tennis Channel Live at the Miami Open, which will take place at the end of live coverage most days. Matches usually get underway at 11 a.m. ET, and Tennis Channel expects to deliver close to 300 hours of coverage: more than 120 live and 170 encore. The women’s singles final is set for 3 p.m. ET Saturday, March 30, with the men’s following at the same time the next afternoon.
T2 will carry live matches most days, competition that will not appear on Tennis Channel. T2 is available to everyone in the United States for free on various platforms, including Amazon Freevee, Roku and Samsung TV+. Tennis Channel Plus, also available to everyone in the country, will carry live matches during the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open and give viewers the opportunity to select from multiple courts. As in the past, all matches from both tournaments will be available on demand after their completion, regardless of which platform on which they first appeared.
On-Air Talent
Isner and Vandeweghe will join an on-air team with award-winning sportscasters and former professional tennis champions, including Hall of Famers Martina Navratilova (@Martina), Tracy Austin (@thetracyaustin), Jim Courier, Lindsay Davenport (@LDavenport76) and Andy Roddick (@andyroddick). Navratilova won titles at both events, taking singles crowns in Southern California in 1990-1991 and South Florida in 1985. That year in Miami she also won the doubles and mixed-doubles competition.
Austin won 30 singles titles, including the 1979 US Open at age 16, still the record for the youngest women’s champion. She will provide commentary during the BNP Paribas Open Courier was the first man to win both tournaments’ singles championships back to back, in 1991, the same year he also won doubles in Indian Wells. He added a second BNP Paribas Open singles title in 1993.
Davenport, born and raised in Southern California, turned Indian Wells into a personal playground during her career. She won the singles tournament in 1997 and 2000, and doubles in 1994-1995, 1997-1998, 2000 and 2003. Roddick, who will be an in-studio analyst during Tennis Channel’s coverage of the Miami Open, grabbed singles championships there in 2004 and 2010, and won the doubles title at the BNP Paribas Open in 2009.
Navratilova, Courier and Davenport will work both events this year.
The network will have several other former players in its booth this month. Analyst Paul Annacone (@paul\annacone) won doubles titles in Miami in 1985 and 1987, and will be part of the team in Indian Wells. Chanda Rubin (@Chanda\Rubin) was the BNP Paribas Open doubles champion in 1996 and will be at both events. Jan-Michael Gambill (@JanmikeGambill) was a singles finalist in Miami in 2001 and doubles finalist in 1999, and will provide commentary at Indian Wells. Andrea Petkovic (@andreapetkovic) will do the same at the Miami Open, where she was a singles semifinalist in 2015.
Monica Puig (@MonicaAce93) became the first athlete to win an Olympic gold medal for Puerto Rico when she won the tennis singles tournament in 2016. She will appear on Tennis Channel Live at the Miami Open. Prakash Amritraj (@PrakashAmritraj) will be at both tournaments, as an analyst in Indian Wells and as a host of the channel’s tournament desk in Miami. Nick Monroe (@nickmonroe10s) will offer his thoughts as a former player during coverage in Southern California, with Nico Pereira doing so in South Florida.
Leif Shiras (@ShirasLeif), Jason Goodall and Mark Petchey (@_markpetchey) round out Tennis Channel’s roster of former tennis professionals. Shiras and Goodall will call matches at the BNP Paribas Open, while Petchey does the same in Miami.
Award-winning, longtime Tennis Channel announcers Ted Robinson (@tedjrobinson), Brett Haber (@BrettHaber) and Steve Weissman (@Steve\Weissman) will also be on air this month: all three during the Miami Open and Haber and Weissman for both events. During Miami, Weissman will man the network’s studio show with Roddick and Puig. Geoff Chizever (@Geoff\Chiz) will handle play-by-play duties in Southern California, while Ari Wolfe (@ariwolfe) and Gill Gross (Gill_Gross) will call matches in South Florida. Tennis Channel global reporter Dani Klupenger (@daniklup) will host the Miami tournament desk with Amritraj.
Digital
Tennis.com is the most comprehensive website devoted to the sport. Visitors will be able to stay on top of everything that happens at the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open again this year. Fans can follow scores, news, highlights, match statistics, win probabilities, estimated start times and more. Its Match Point predictor game (https://predictor.tennis.com/en) will give players the chance to answer questions and win $50,000 per event.
On-air team members will post on Instagram during both events and Tennis Channel audiences can engage with them, the tournaments and others on a variety of social platforms. Among these are Facebook (www.facebook.com/tennischannel), Twitter (www.twitter.com/tennischannel), Instagram (www.instagram.com/tennischannel), TikTok (tiktok.com/@tennischannel) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/tennischannel), as well as Tennis Magazine’s Twitter (Twitter.com/Tennis) and Facebook (www.Facebook.com/TennisMedia).
Tennis Channel’s Live BNP Paribas Open Coverage Schedule
(Men’s ATP/Women’s WTA Singles Unless Otherwise Specified)
Date Time (ET) Event _
Wednesday, March 6 1 p.m.-1 a.m. ATP/WTA First Round
Thursday, March 7 1 p.m.-1 a.m. ATP/WTA First Round
Friday, March 8 1 p.m.-1 a.m. ATP/WTA Second Round
Saturday, March 9 1 p.m.-1 a.m. ATP/WTA Second Round
Sunday, March 10 1 p.m.-1 a.m. ATP/WTA Third Round
Monday, March 11 1 p.m.-1 a.m. ATP/WTA Third Round
Tuesday, March 12 1 p.m.-1 a.m. ATP/WTA Round of 16,
Doubles Quarterfinals
Wednesday, March 13 1 p.m.-1 a.m. ATP/WTA Round of 16,
ATP Doubles Semifinals,
WTA Doubles Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 14 1 p.m.-11 p.m. ATP/WTA Quarterfinals,
WTA Doubles Semifinals
Friday, March 15 3:30 p.m.-11 p.m. ATP Doubles Final, WTA Semifinals
Saturday, March 16 1 p.m.-8:30 p.m. WTA Doubles Final, ATP Semifinals
Sunday, March 19 2 p.m.-7 p.m. WTA/ATP Singles Finals
Tennis Channel’s Live Miami Open Coverage Schedule
(Men’s ATP/Women’s WTA Singles Unless Otherwise Specified)
Date Time (ET) Event _
Tuesday, March 19 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. WTA First Round
Wednesday, March 20 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m. ATP/WTA First Round
Thursday, March 21 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m. ATP First Round, WTA Second Round
Friday, March 22 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m. ATP/WTA Second Round
More…
Page 5 of 5/Tennis Channel BNP Paribas Open/Miami Open Schedule, Talent Release
Saturday, March 23 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m. ATP Second Round, WTA Third Round
Sunday, March 24 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m. ATP/WTA Third Round
Monday, March 25 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m. ATP Third Round, WTA Round of 16
Tuesday, March 26 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m. ATP Round of 16, WTA Quarterfinals
Wednesday, March 27 1 p.m.-5 p.m.,
7 p.m.-11:30 p.m. ATP/WTA Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 28 1 p.m.-5 p.m. ATP Quarterfinal, WTA Semifinal
7 p.m.-11:30 p.m. ATP Quarterfinal, WTA Semifinal,
Friday, March 29 1 p.m.-5 p.m. ATP Semifinal, WTA Doubles Semifinal
7 p.m.-11 p.m. ATP Semifinal, WTA Doubles Semifinal
Saturday, March 30 12:30 p.m.-5 p.m. ATP Doubles Final, WTA Singles Final
Sunday, March 31 12:30 p.m.-5 p.m. WTA Double Final, ATP Singles Final
Tennis Channel (www.tennischannel.com) and its sibling network T2, which are owned by Sinclair, Inc., are the only television-based multiplatform destinations dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle. The networks have the most concentrated single-sport coverage in television in one of the world’s most voluminous sports, with multiple men’s and women’s tournaments and singles, doubles and mixed competition throughout the year. Tennis Channel and T2 have rights at the four majors – US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open) and Australian Open – and are the exclusive U.S. homes of all men’s ATP World Tour and women’s WTA Tour competitions, Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup, United Cup, and Laver Cup. Direct-to-consumer streaming service Tennis Channel Plus is available to everyone in the United States and allows subscribers to select from another 4,500 live and on-demand matches and award-winning content from short-form to films throughout the tennis season. Tennis Channel International brings live competition and network content to markets in Europe and Asia via digital subscription and free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels. Additional platform www.tennis.com is the largest digital outlet dedicated to the sport. Tennis Channel also manages a network of close to 20 podcasts and FAST channel Pickleballtv, a partnership with the Professional Pickleball Association.
About Sinclair, Inc.
Sinclair, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) is a diversified media company and a leading provider of local news and sports. The Company owns, operates and/or provides services to 185 television stations in 86 markets affiliated with all the major broadcast networks; owns Tennis Channel and multicast networks Comet, CHARGE!, TBD and The Nest; and owns and provides services to 21 regional sports network brands. Sinclair’s content is delivered via multiple platforms, including over-the-air, multi-channel video program distributors, and the nation’s largest streaming aggregator of local news content, NewsON. The Company regularly uses its website as a key source of Company information which can be accessed at www.sbgi.net.
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For further information:
Eric Abner, Tennis Channel, 310-314-9445, eabner@tennischannel.com, @TennisChannelPR