@ESPNTennis & Wimbledon – Serena/Venus Highlights the “Greatest Day in Tennis”

·         All Round of 16 Matches Monday

·         Sharapova, Azarenka & Americans Keys, Vandeweghe in Action

·         Top Four Gentlemen’s Seeds all in Action: Djokovic, Federer, Murray, Wawrinka

·         “Cross Court Coverage” with ESPN, ESPN2 all Day Monday-Wednesday

·         ABC to Air Three-Hour Review of First Week Sunday

The 26th meeting of sisters Venus and Serena Williams plus Wimbledon’s top four Gentlemen’s seeds in action highlight ESPN and ESPN2’s “Cross Court Coverage” for the Round of 16 on Monday, July 6, with both networks live all day for “The Greatest Day in Tennis” as everyone plays after Wimbledon’s traditional day of rest the “middle Sunday.” ESPN starts at 8 a.m., focused on Centre Court, while fans enjoy a “grounds pass” with matches from No. 1 Court and elsewhere on ESPN2 beginning at 7 a.m.

Centre Court – ESPN

No. 1 S.Williams vs. No. 16 V.Williams

No. 3 Murray vs. No. 23Karlovic

No. 2 Federer vs. No. 20 Bautista Agut

No. 1 Court – ESPN2

No. 4 Sharapova v. Diyas

No. 4 Wawrinka v. No. 16 Goffin

No. 1 Djokovic v. No. 14 Anderson

The 33-year old Serena leads the siblings’ rivalry 14-11 over her older sister (Venus, 35), including 3-2 at Wimbledon (one semifinal won by Venus, four Championships where Venus won in 2008 Serena won three times – 2002, ’08, ‘09).

The winners on “Manic Monday” will advance to the Quarterfinals – Ladies on Tuesday, Gentlemen on Wednesday – with two more days of Cross Court Coverage – starting on ESPN and ESPN2 at 8 a.m.

The 16 Ladies and 16 Gentlemen remaining include:

• Four of the top 10 Ladies’ seeds: No. 1 S.Williams, No. 4 Maria Sharapova, No. 5 Caroline Wozniacki, and No. 6 Lucie Safarova.
• Five of the top 10 Gentlemen’s seeds: 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Roger Federer, No. 3 Andy Murray, No. 4 Stan Wawrinka, No. 6 Tomas Berdych and No. 9 Marin Cilic.
• 21 Wimbledon championships: No. 2 Roger Federer (7), No. 1 Serena Williams (5), No. 16 Venus Williams (5), No. 1 Novak Djokovic (2), No. 4 Maria Sharapova (1), No. 3 Andy Murray (1).
• Winners of other Majors: 4 Stan Wawrinka (2), No. 23 Victoria Azarenka (2), No. 9 Marin Cilic (1).
• 34 Major championships among the Ladies’, all in the top half (Serena-20, Venus-7, Sharapova-5, Azarenka-2).
• Five Americans (four are women)– No. 21 Madison Keys, CoCo Vandeweghe and Denis Kudla, in addition to the Williams sisters
• Ivo Karlovic is the oldest man (36) in the Wimbledon Round of 16 since 1976 (Niki Pilic, also 36).

ESPN’s exclusive coverage of The Championships, Wimbledon – from first ball to the trophies – will climax with the Ladies’ Championship on ESPN on Saturday, July 11, and the Gentlemen’s Championship on Sunday, July 12.

• Round of 16 Matches Monday, July 6 (paired matches meet in Quarterfinals)
• 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 14 Kevin Anderson
• 9 Marin Cilic vs. Denis Kudla
• 4 Stan Wawrinka vs. No. 16 David Goffin
• 21 Richard Gasquet vs. No. 26 Nick Kyrgios
• 22 Victor Troicki vs. Vasek Pospisil
• 3 Andy Murray vs. No. 23 Ivo Karlovic
• 6 Tomas Berdych vs. No. 12 Gilles Simon
• 2 Roger Federer vs. No. 20 Roberto Bautista Agut

• 1 Serena Williams vs. No. 16 Venus Williams
• 23 Victoria Azarenka vs. No. 30 Belinda Bencic
• 4 Maria Sharapova vs. Zarina Diyas
• 6 Lucie Safarova vs. CoCo Vandeweghe
• 5 Caroline Wozniacki vs. No. 20 Garbine Muguruza
• 15 Timea Bacsinszky vs. Monica Niculescu
• 21 Madison Keys vs. Olga Govortsova
• 13 Agnieszka Radwanska vs. No. 28 Jelena Jankovic

• ABC will broadcast a three-hour review of the first week on the “middle Sunday,” July 5 – Wimbledon’s traditional day of rest – at 3 p.m. The major areas of focus will include the third-round comeback from the brink by No. 1 Serena Williams, the surprising fourth consecutive early loss by Rafael Nadal, and a look at Monday’s matchups, including the 26th edition of Serena vs. Venus Williams. In addition, the 40th anniversary of Arthur Ashe’s Wimbledon victory and the 35th anniversary of the memorable Bjorn Borg-John McEnroe final will be noted.

• ESPN3 has increased its multi-screen offering to a tennis Major record 1,500 hours – 15 courts (Centre, Courts 1-3, 5-12, and 16-18.) presented from first ball to last ball each day, with action available on demand afterwards.  In addition, ESPN3 will again offer AELTC’s daily Live@Wimbledon.  All singles matches will be available in Spanish via ESPNDeportes+.

Looking Back at Week One

• ESPN’s opens once again feature the London Philharmonic Orchestra and focus on the beauty, mystique and traditions of Wimbledon, and the greatness of those competing on the grass courts:
• “Open Hearts Required” (Day One introduction), narrated by Kate Winslet: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13166712
• “To the Few” (ode to the men’s Big Four), narrated by Kit Harrington: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13186055
• “The Reality of Wimbledon,” narrated by Kate Winslet: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13191796
• One exception, was the special opening Friday, when all of Great Britain observed a moment of silence at noon, in memory of the 30 UK citizens killed by terrorists in Tunisia: https://vimeo.com/132605825

ESPN’s Jason Goodall uses computer technology to examine all manner of topics in tennis:

• The difference in how the ball bounces between grass and clay courts: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13174547
• Why left-handed players do well at Wimbledon: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13179114
• How players’ ability to slide varies between the three surfaces: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13179288

• Stan Wawrinka discussed his expectations at Wimbledon fresh off his French Open victory, his much-discussed shorts in Paris and his appearance without them in ESPN the Magazine’s “Body Issue”: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13170836

Miscellany

• Roger Federer visited the #ESPNTennis set and translated his emoji-filled Tweet from the day before, which described what he did on his day off: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13197868
• Brad Gilbert’s top eight shots ever: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13179345
• Yet another Roger Federer tweener: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13187045
• And one from Nick Krygios: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13192182

Looking Ahead to Week Two

• Breakfast at Wimbledon starts the final four days – Thursday, July 9, to the Championships – hosted by Hannah Storm at 7 a.m. on July 9-10 leading into the semifinals, and at 8 a.m. on July 11-12, previewing the Championships – all on ESPN.

• As in 2014, for the semifinals and championships an additional “ESPN3 Surround” feed will be added with three boxes – the primary TV view, plus two more, each focusing on one player.

• ABC will present three-hour encore presentations of the Championships on the day they take place, July 11 and 12, at 3 p.m.

ESPN Classic is airing six matches on the exact day of their 15-, 25-, 30-, 35- or 40-year anniversary:

• 1980 Gentlemen’s Championship (John McEnroe vs. Bjorn Borg) on Sunday, July 5, at 5 a.m.
• 1975 Gentlemen’s Championship (Jimmy Connors vs. Arthur Ashe) on Sunday, July 5, at 7 a.m.
• 1985 Ladies’ Championship (Chris Evert Lloyd vs. Martina Navratilova) on Monday, July 6, at 5 a.m.
• 1990 Ladies’ Championship (Zina Garrison vs. Martina Navratilova) on Tuesday, July 7, at 5 a.m.
• 2000 Ladies’ Championship (Lindsay Davenport vs. Venus Williams) on Wednesday, July 8, at 5 a.m.
• 2000 Gentlemen’s Championship (Pat Rafter vs. Pete Sampras) on Thursday, July 9, at 5 a.m.

ESPN & WIMBLEDON 2015

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