Tennis Channel's Broadcast Feat: One Day, Two Tournaments, Four Cities

Tennis Channel's Broadcast Feat: One Day, Two Tournaments, Four Cities Two ATP Masters 1000 tourneys will be aired today By Mark J Burns, SVG Contributor

Thursday, August 7, 2025 - 11:59 am

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Tennis Channel's lunar-eclipse-like event occurs today. The network will broadcast two separate ATP Masters 1000 tournaments from four cities, marking an ambitious production day for the overall enterprise and the sport itself.

For the National Bank Open in Canada, Tennis Channel will broadcast the men's and women's finals tonight from Toronto (Sobeys Stadium) and Montreal (IGA Stadium), respectively. During the day, the Cincinnati Open - which recently completed a $260 million stadium renovation - starts its first round at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, OH.

I started here when we had six weeks of live coverage, notes Tennis Channel Executive Producer Ean Dunn, who was promoted to that post in March. To see us grow to 48 weeks of live coverage and this being just one day out of 48 weeks, it's a beautiful thing that we're able to pull this off.

It is the first time for these two specific events, he continues, but, really, anywhere else around the world, any time of the year, [we] have [this] many announcers onsite in different locations - both on the road and in our studio.

Steve Weissman leads the studio team for Tennis Channel's TC Live.

Cincinnati's renovation also now features a new studio space for Tennis Channel, which will be producing its daily show, TC Live, from the stadium for the first time. Previously, the broadcaster had a presence on the grounds but outside the venue.

Being onsite for TC Live, Dunn says, provides the network a wider array of options for interviews and content. Anything onsite, for me, is always a plus. It makes us feel really big and feels like we're covering the sport the way it's supposed to be covered.

All of today's matches will also be accessible live via the Tennis Channel app.

Dunn, who has worked at Tennis Channel for 11 years, explains that, in early April, Tennis Channel SVP, Production, Bob Whyley approached him after seeing the tennis schedule and the three-week span comprising both ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. The proposition: let's have a desk in all three cities.

Paul Annacone will call the National Bank Open men's final tonight.

We then built out who we wanted to be there, says Dunn, noting that the team conducted multiple site surveys in Cincinnati and numerous meetings about how best to feature this weird and wacky day in the world of tennis. We decided to bring our A-level talent to Cincinnati. Some of them we were already sending to Montreal and Toronto, so they'll be flying directly from there. People like Lindsay Davenport, Jim Courier, and Brett Haber, all the people that you're used to seeing on Tennis Channel for our big events, are going to be onsite.

Mark Knowles will be alongside Annacone in Toronto.

Tennis Channel will also have a second booth in Cincinnati for Tennis Channel 2, its secondary channel, featuring broadcast talent Ted Robinson, Jason Goodall, and Pam Shriver. For the Cincinnati Open, announcers are currently located today at the network's facility in Santa Monica, CA, before moving onsite beginning Friday.

In Montreal, Mark Petchey and Andrea Petkovic will call the National Bank Open women's final between Victoria Mboko and Naomi Osaka tonight, beginning at 6 p.m. ET. In Toronto, Mark Knowles and Paul Annacone will call the men's final; the match between Karen Khachanov and Ben Shelton starts at 7:30 p.m.

Seven production-team members are onsite in Montreal for Tennis Channel, 10 in Toronto, and 30-plus in Cincinnati. Approximately 30 staffers are located at the studio in California.

The broadcaster's West Coast production and studio facility - which has served as the 24/7 home of tennis for years - will have 30-plus feeds arriving at the hub today.

Tennis Channel could not have accomplished that technological feat, Dunn notes, a few years ago when we were in our smaller studio. We're able to bring in a robo cam, a jib shot, and two booth cameras, from just one site, let alone the booth cameras and all the microphones and everything from Toronto and Montreal at the same time. It's now about having the space and the engineering. He credits Tennis Channel/Sinclair Broadcast Group, VP, Engineering and Technical Operations, Robert Bruno Brunelle as the technical mastermind of the operation.

Adds Dunn, who recently returned from Toronto and will be producing today's show for Tennis Channel from California, Everyone that's worked at Tennis Channel for the last few years has grown with the company. We're all on the same boat, rowing the same way. It's the attitude of everyone to be nimble and flexible and realize, in the tennis world and the television world, things change a lot, right? Just being flexible - that's the key.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/08/07/tennis-channels-broadcast-feat-...
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