ESPN Classic Airing 100-Plus Hours of Australian Open Programming
In January, ESPN Classic will present more than 100 hours of Australian Open programming, plus tennis-themed editions of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning SportsCentury series and other interview shows. Beginning Tuesday, Jan. 8, ESPN Classic will air Australian Open programming virtually around the clock until Friday, Jan. 11 at 8:00 p.m. The marathon of more than 80 hours will climax with three memorable men’s matches from a year ago–the semifinals pitting Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray, and Rafael Nadal against Roger Federer, and the championship match between Djokovic and Nadal, which at five hours and 53 minutes, stands as tennis’ longest Grand Slam final in history.
Later in the month, ESPN Classic will air a number of Australian Open matches upon a significant anniversary (5th, 10th, etc.), including Andy Roddick’s epic 21-19 fifth set vs. Younes El Aynaoui in the 2003 Australian Open quarterfinals (Jan. 22, 9:00 a.m.), the Williams Sisters squaring off in the 2003 Women’s Final (Jan. 24 at 5:00 p.m.) and the 1993 Women’s Final between Monica Seles and Steffi Graf (Jan. 29 at 5:00 p.m.).
ESPN’s 29th consecutive Australian Open will begin Sunday, Jan. 13, with more than 100 live hours on ESPN2 HD (50+ more in afternoon reairs) and 600+ on ESPN3. Daily action continues each night with afternoon reairs through the women’s championship Saturday, Jan. 26, and the men’s championship Sunday, Jan. 27, both at 3:00 a.m. with reairs later each day at 9:00 a.m. and in prime time.
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 U.S. 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 in a 12-year agreement starting in 2012.
ESPN debuted Sept. 7, 1979, and the first tennis telecast was exactly one week later, Sept. 14, a Davis Cup tie between Argentina and the U.S. from Memphis with Cliff Drysdale on the call and John McEnroe playing.
