Tennis Channel To Produce Live Three-Hour Daily Show During Pro Tour Hiatus

Tennis Channel will introduce a daily, three-hour edition of Tennis Channel Live while the professional tennis tours are on hiatus due to the worldwide coronavirus containment effort. Beginning, Monday, March 23, at noon ET, the show will serve as a central tennis news and conversation platform with updates from the sport’s leaders, social media interaction with players and fans, and other topical information during this unprecedented shutdown.

With a general talk-show format and set in the network’s Los Angeles studio, Tennis Channel Live will also explore a different theme each for the next five weeks — Greatest of All Time, History, Roland Garros (the French Open), Wimbledon and the US Open — in a celebration of the very best the sport has to offer. The channel will run encore editions each evening at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET.

Tennis Channel Live will typically feature a pair of announcers or analysts in studio, with phone or video interviews from others on the network’s roster of on-air talent. Next week Steve Weissman will host the show with former player Prakash Amritraj and daily contributions from Hall of Famer Lindsay Davenport and Grand Slam-winning coach Paul Annacone from outside the studio. Subsequent weeks will include host Brett Haber, Hall of Famers Jim Courier and Tracy Austin, sportscaster Mary Carillo, and former players Chanda Rubin, Jimmy Arias, Jan-Michael Gambill and Nico Pereira.

“Though the competition may be paused right now there’s important news and daily information from players, events and governing bodies around the globe rolling out literally all the time, and Tennis Channel remains the central place for fans to stay on top of it all — as well as for the sport’s innumerable stakeholders to reach them instantly as it unfolds,” said Ken Solomon, president, Tennis Channel. “This moment requires both live daily analysis and wisdom from our on-air team of Hall of Famers and experts at the highest levels of the sport, who deeply understand its inner workings and organizational leadership.

“Home-bound audiences will also need to be entertained more than ever, and as always Tennis Channel will be here as a much-needed respite. Every week Tennis Channel Live is going to dive into a different element of this sport’s rich history, with top-quality features supported by all platforms — Tennis.com, our Tennis Channel app, subscription-service Tennis Channel Plus and the Tennis Channel Podcast Network,” Solomon added.