As tennis fans prepare for Slam season, beginning with the French Open on May 25, ESPN has been shoring up its own portfolio for the sport. In addition to adding Wimbledon in 2012 as well as the US Open for 2015, the company wrapped up ATP and WTA tennis action at the Sony Open in Miami over the weekend, the first time it has been carried on the ESPN networks, and unveiled a multiyear extension last week with WTA Family Circle Cup the largest women’s-only tennis tournament in the world that will offer continued TV coverage starting with the Round of 16 as well as an expanded weeklong schedule on ESPN3.
Cynopsis Sports spoke with Jason Bernstein, Senior Director, Programming & Acquisitions at ESPN, about the state and challenges of the sport, and what to expect in the year ahead.
Bernstein on ESPN’s approach to tennis: We are thrilled to have the collection of world class events that we have on the tennis side and it’s a testament to the 35 years of tennis that we’ve had on the air. Tennis has evolved for us by way of storytelling as evidenced by getting our foot in the door with the Davis Cup in 1979, and demonstrating those stories through pictures and obviously storylines through the years. Since then, we have focused on telling those stories in the right way and giving a single narrative for the sport in a new, unique way as well as develop the digital offerings that we have to bring tennis to fans on their terms. It is no long just a linear playout that fans had come to expect over the years and that evolution is what we pride ourselves on in terms of putting as many matches out as possible on as many devices as possible and trying to reach as many fans as possible.
On challenges: I think that tennis is a challenge in that you’ve got a 48-plus week season, so it’s a long season. It’s an individual sport so there aren’t natural teams to follow. Obviously with American tennis, where are the next crop of American stars? But fans continue to respond to respond to rivalries and great matches. What’s a challenge for us, if you want to call it that, is bringing new stories to light and navigating our fans to different platforms. But we do embrace that challenge. We’ve got the fairly significant offering throughout the tennis season, because there are so many events, that the onus is on us to help fans understand where they can find it.
On promotion: We’ve said that tennis requires a different approach because it’s a different sport than the tradition stick-and-ball sports. We’ve also said that we want to approach it in a different way for all of these major championships. That means bringing the Wimbledon trophies to the US for the first time. We delivered a Wimbledon poster opportunity that allowed American fans to touch a view Wimbledon in a new way. We wanted to continue to push the envelope and continue to evolve the experience and bring it across the Atlantic in a way that hasn’t been done before.
On the US Open: The most important thing for the US Open will be that we are not going to get in the way. The key for us with the US Open will be showcase the sport in a slightly different way, with new camera angles, technology and the advancements that fans have come to expect, but in the way that it impedes on the matches on the court. So we intend to continue to tell stories and do so in a way that maybe sheds light on a few folks who you may not have heard before and showcase all that the season delivers and the grind through the summer to the end of the Grand Slam season with the pinnacle in New York and do so in a way that brings fans closer.
