Live From US Open 2025: Tennis Channel Returns With Onsite Studio Show

Live From US Open 2025: Tennis Channel Returns With Onsite Studio Show New set has a prime site; production is handled remotely By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Thursday, August 28, 2025 - 12:17 pm

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It has been five years since Tennis Channel aired an onsite studio show from the U.S. Open. This year, Tennis Channel Executive Producer Ean Dunn and the team are happy to not only have a presence at the U.S. Open but to be in a prime location alongside ESPN and Sky Sports overlooking Fan Plaza outside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

We're absolutely stoked to be back out here having a presence, says Dunn. With Tennis Channel having tennis year-round, it just feels right to be onsite during the biggest American event of the year. And we're right here in the middle of things, which has been amazing. Fans have been coming up to speak with Lindsay [Davenport], Jim [Courier], and Chanda [Rubin] and getting autographs. It has been cool to see the reception we've had here and to show people we aren't covering just the Masters 1000 and ATP 500 tours but also the majors.

Tennis Channel's Ean Dunn at the broadcaster's set on Fan Plaza outside Arthur Ashe Stadium

The brand-new broadcast set is the centerpiece for Tennis Channel Live at the US Open, which airs at 9-11 a.m. ET each morning from Opening Day through the men's and women's quarterfinals on Sept. 3. Reporter Jon Wertheim is also roaming the grounds with an ENG crew, sending signals via bonded cellular to the Tennis Channel production team.

This place is massive and amazing, adds Dunn. Having the ENG crew [allows us to] show the different areas of the grounds. And John has a great relationship with everyone and loves tennis; his reports have a 60 Minutes feel.

There will be two special evening editions of Tennis Channel Live at the US Open (7-8 p.m.) on Sept. 6 and 7, recapping the women's and men's finals, respectively. We'll have full highlights of the final, says Dunn, and John will interview the winner in the Media Garden. Then we'll have all our announcers for the wrap-up. After Sunday's final, the season doesn't end for us: there are still 10 weeks to go before we finish out the year.

Tennis Channel has, of course, had a presence at the US Open without a studio show, but it was limited to talent segments that were fed to the studio team at the Santa Monica, CA, studio. According to Dunn, the studio team at home is running concurrently with the morning show onsite, but the team at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center handles about 90% of the coverage, with deeper-dive segments by Steve Weissman, Prakash Amritraj, and Paul Annacone in Los Angeles.

Starting our show two hours before the tennis starts [allows] our viewers to see the people trickle in, he points out. Once the gates open, a massive number of people come around the plaza. The energy that you feel in the second half of the show is because everyone's here and everyone's geared up and ready for tennis.

Fans in the background provide a dynamic backdrop for (from left) Tennis Channel analyst Chanda Rubin, host Brett Haber, and analysts Lindsay Davenport and Jim Courier onsite at the US Open.

On the operations side, Tennis Channel brought in the majority of its gear, which includes two robotics cameras, a jib camera, and a robo that captures behind-the-scenes shots beginning 30 minutes prior to showtime. A team of 15 is on hand to make sure things run smoothly.

Our production team is in Los Angeles talking to our stage manager and our audio folks, says Dunn. But everything, including getting into the ears of the announcers, is controlled from Los Angeles.

The effort at the US Open exemplifies Tennis Channel's embrace of remote production, which allows it to maximize its onsite presence more economically by not deploying a production truck. It also allows the control-room facilities and studio in Santa Monica to be utilized more effectively, increasing that ROI as well.

We have a desk at every single Masters tournament - sometimes we'll have two booths - because a presence is always integral, explains Dunn. The technology has gotten so good, and we've been doing it for the last five years. It's just second nature to us to put something like this show together.

Tennis Channel's onsite efforts have been paying off not only for fans but also for the players and coaches. With a heavy presence at the other tournaments as well as at the majors, the talent team builds relationships with players and coaches, and those positive relationships pay dividends on-air.

It allows us to ask the players [and others involved with tennis] for more than they're used to, or we can ask them to do something different, explains Dunn. They're fully behind it because they know we're not out to get them; we're out to help them. I've been producing full-time for six years, but being at the Masters events for the last four years has changed our coverage. We're not just taking world feeds: we're a part of the action and bring that to the fans.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/08/28/live-from-us-open-2025-tennis-c...
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