via press release:
Wimbledon Trophies on Good Morning America, to Visit ESPN in First Visit to U.S.
Trophies to Appear with ESPN’s Chris Evert, John McEnroe on GMA on Friday; Visit to ESPN Monday
All New, All Live, All ESPN Wimbledon Starts June 25
The Wimbledon championship trophies – which have never before left London and rarely leave the famed grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis Club – will appear on ABC’s Good Morning America on Friday, June 15. ESPN analysts Chris Evert and John McEnroe – who each held a Wimbledon trophy aloft three times after winning titles – will be on hand in New York to discuss their memories of Wimbledon as well as prospects for the 2012 event. The Championships, Wimbledon, will begin exclusively across ESPN networks Monday, June 25, in the first year of a new 12-year agreement in which for the first time the tournament will be televised all live from first ball to the finals.
The Wimbledon segment is expected to appear during the 8:30 a.m. ET half hour of the two-hour show (7 – 9 a.m.). Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Josh Elliott, Lara Spencer and Sam Champion host GMA, which originates from its Central Park outdoor set on Fridays during the summer.
In addition, on Monday, June 18, the Wimbledon trophies will visit ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn., where they will feel at home: the center quad on the ESPN campus has been turned into a grass tennis court complete with a Wimbledon scoreboard. The trophies will appear with ESPN analysts Mary Joe Fernandez and Patrick McEnroe on a number of editions of SportsCenter throughout the day. Fernandez and McEnroe will also chat with fans on ESPN.com.
ESPN’s Evert, Fernandez and the McEnroes
Chris Evert, who joined ESPN at Wimbledon in 2011, won 18 major singles championships, including at least one each year for 13 consecutive years (1974-1986). She won seven French Open titles and six US Opens – both records – plus three Wimbledon championships and two at the Australian Open. She retired in 1989 with 157 singles titles overall, and a career win-loss record of 1,309-146 (.900), the best of any professional player in history.
Mary Joe Fernandez first came to the tennis world’s attention in 1985 – at age 14 years and eight days – as the youngest player to win a match in the main draw of the US Open. She went on to be ranked as high as No. 4 in the world, appear in three Major finals (Australian Open 1990 and 1992, French Open 1993) and won two Major titles in doubles (1991 Australian Open, French Open 1996). She also won a Gold Medal in doubles at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics and earned a Bronze in singles in 1992. An ESPN analyst since she retired from competition in 2000, she has served as Captain of the United States’ Fed Cup team since 2009.
John McEnroe’s Hall of Fame career was launched by reaching the Wimbledon semifinals in 1977 as an 18-year old amateur and he later played one of the sports’ iconic matches on the famed Centre Court. His 77 singles titles include four US Open titles and three at Wimbledon. Although a loss, his five-set duel with Bjorn Borg in the 1980 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Final – highlighted by McEnroe surviving an 18-16 fourth set tiebreak – is one of the most memorable events in tennis history. He has worked at the US Open for ESPN since 2009 and will work his first Wimbledon for the company.
Patrick McEnroe has worked for ESPN since 1995 (before he retired as a player) and he now fills all three roles – studio host, analyst and play-by-play. From 2001-2010, he was the U.S. Davis Cup captain, and in 2007 the team won its first championship since 1995. He currently serves as General Manager, USTA Elite Player Development. A three-time singles All-American at Stanford – where the team won NCAA titles in 1986 and 1988 – McEnroe won the 1992 French Open doubles title and reached the 1991 Australian Open semifinals in singles. His singles career peaked in 1995, reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open and a career-high ranking of 28 in the world.
ESPN & Wimbledon
- · ESPN will televise The Championships, Wimbledon across its networks starting Monday, June 25, with day-long marathon telecasts through to the Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Finals, Saturday, July 7, and Sunday, July 8, respectively.
- · All the action on ESPN and ESPN2 is also available through WatchESPN online at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app.
- · On the “middle Sunday,” a scheduled day off as is Wimbledon tradition, ABC will broadcast a three-hour review of the first week at 3 p.m. ABC will also reair the finals on the day they take place, July 7 and 8, at 3 p.m.
- · ESPN3 will again offer its multi-screen offering of all televised courts, including a simulcast of ESPN/ESPN2 telecasts.
- · The new schedule is the result of a 12-year agreement between ESPN and the All England Lawn Tennis Club announced just after the conclusion of the 2011 Championships.
ESPN – All Four Slams, All In One Place
Tennis has been part of ESPN since its first week on the air and provided many memorable moments, but it has never been as important as today, with the US Open joining the lineup in 2009, giving ESPN all four Grand Slam events, something no other U.S. network has ever done, let alone in one year. ESPN has presented the Australian Open since 1984, the French Open since 2002 (plus 1986 – 1993), and Wimbledon since 2003, with exclusivity for live television with all other rights extended added in a 12-year agreement starting this year.
ESPN debuted September 7, 1979, and the first tennis telecast was exactly one week later, September 14, a Davis Cup tie, Argentina at U.S. from Memphis with Cliff Drysdale on the call and John McEnroe playing.
In addition, broadband network ESPN3, now in nearly 72 million homes, carries thousands of hours of tennis annually, including all four Grand Slam events, plus ATP 1000 and 500 tournaments and WTA Premier Events, and season-ending championships for both tours. Also, ESPN Classic shows great matches from the past and the sport receives extensive coverage on SportsCenter, ESPNEWS, Spanish-language ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. ESPN 3D aired its first tennis at Wimbledon in 2011.
Source: tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com
Goodall warms up in style for Wimbledon (From Basingstoke Gazette) - basingstokegazette.co.uk
Goodall warms up in style for Wimbledon
5:00pm Thursday 14th June 2012 in Sport By Graham Merry
BASINSGTOKE tennis ace Josh Goodall celebrated receiving a wildcard in the Wimbledon singles in fine style on Monday.
The British number four won both his singles and doubles games on the grass courts at the Nottingham Challenger.
The 26-year-old, pictured, ranked 227 in the world, last appeared in the main draw of the Wimbledon singles in 2009, losing to Frenchman Michael Llodra in five sets over two days.
Since then Goodall has played in the doubles with Jamie Delgado and Chris Eaton, but on both occasions went out in the first round – last year to the number eight seeds Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau.
The Basingstoke-born player was one of four British men to get a wildcard into the singles, which starts on Monday June 25, along with James Ward, Jamie Baker and Oliver Golding and there were also four in the women’s draw awarded to Naomi Broady, Johanna Konta, Laura Robson and Heather Watson.
Goodall is currently in action at Nottingham and won his first round singles, beating fellow Brit Kyle Edmund 6-2, 6-3.
In the doubles competition Goodall and his British partner Luke Bambridge took a major scalp as they knocked out the number two seeds John Paul Fruttero and Raven Klaasen 6-4, 6-3.
Source: www.basingstokegazette.co.uk
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in doubt for Wimbledon after heavy fall at Queen's - Daily Telegraph
As for Tsonga, he will be less worried about the result than the state of his racket hand. The injury did not seem to inhibit his stroke play greatly, but he was inspecting the finger at every changeover. At the end of the match, he held his left hand out for the umpire to shake.
Whatever the result of Tsonga’s scans, you have to feel for Chris Kermode, tournament director of these Aegon Championships. Tsonga is the latest recognisable name to lose to an outsider in this topsy-turvy event, adding to a list of early casualties that includes not only Murray but Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt.
Even Murray’s conqueror, Nicolas Mahut, joined the exodus on Thursday, going down in straight sets to the up-and-coming Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
The one top-10 player left is Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia. And he was a set down to Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei when rain brought play to an early conclusion on Thursday.
At the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, Heather Watson was the only British singles player of either gender to manage two wins this week, but her run ended in the third round yesterday at the hands of Roberta Vinci — the world No 20 from Italy.
Watson took the second set, which was a creditable effort against a player ranked 91 places above her, but ended up losing 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. If the statistics are any guide, Vinci is now the favourite for the title.
The sole British victory to celebrate yesterday came in the men’s doubles at Queen’s, where Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, playing their second tournament after a two-month injury break, defeated Belgium’s Steve Darcis and Oliver Rochus 6-2, 6-2.
Both have had to deal with chronic injuries, Fleming’s a stress fracture of the tibia and Hutchins’ a tendon problem in his left wrist. But they are still 17th in the list of best-performing pairs this season, and their participation in the Olympics is expected to be confirmed later this week.
“When you look at where we were a year ago, I’m very proud that we’ve come this far,” Fleming said.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
3 players withdraw from Wimbledon - FOXSports.com
LONDON (AP)
Andrea Petkovic of Germany has withdrawn from Wimbledon because of a persistent right ankle injury.
She missed the Australian Open because of a lower back injury, then hurt her ankle in her comeback tournament and missed the French Open.
Petkovic reached three Grand Slam quarterfinals last year at the Australian, French and U.S. Opens, and the third round at Wimbledon. She was replaced by Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia.
Hungary's Agnes Szavay (back) and Estonia's Kaia Kanepi (foot) also withdrew, and were replaced by Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, and Heather Watson of Britain.
Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, who has hardly played in more than a year, was replaced by Vasek Pospisil of Canada, who will make his Wimbledon main draw debut.
Source: msn.foxsports.com
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