By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, September 29, 2015
ESPN analysts Patrick McEnroe and Chris Evert with host Chris McKendry on set at the US Open practice courts.
Photo credit: ESPN
Roberta Vinci denied Serena Williams' Grand Slam dreams with a US Open upset for the ages. Williams was still a major winner for ESPN.
Episode 27 of the Venus vs. Serena rivalry was a television event for ESPN. The Williams sisters US Open quarterfinal registered a 2.7 overnight rating, ESPN's second-highest rated tennis match, which was exceeded only by the 2012 Wimbledon final when Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray.
Open and Shut: Game-Changing Coverage Shuts Out Some Viewers
Vinci vetoed Serena's Grand Slam bid and burst the Grand Slam network's aspirations of an expected ratings bonanza for a final featuring the world No. 1 on the cusp of history. The US Open men's final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer produced a 43 percent increase from the 2014 final between Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori.
The first all ESPN US Open in history delivered an average audience of 1,265,000 viewers on ESPN and ESPN, which was a 20 percent rise from the to 1,054,000 audience of a year ago.
The most-viewed US Open since 2011 brought some breakthrough moments—Pam Shriver conducted the first-ever mid-match interview at a Grand Slam with CoCo Vandeweghe—and disappointment. No first-week live TV coverage of the 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. matches the start the day, which Tennis Channel televised in prior years, was a step back in the first year of ESPN's exclusive 11-year US Open television pact with the USTA.
Near the end of the US Open, we caught up with Jamie Reynolds, ESPN vice president, event production, who heads the network's Grand Slam coverage, for this interview about current and future plans for ESPN's US Open coverage.
Tennis Now: How much of a ratings hit did ESPN take when Robert Vinci upset Serena to deny the Grand Slam?
Jamie Reynolds: That Tuesday night [Venus vs. Serena] was a tremendous performance. It's exactly what you expect the US Open to become. Have the stars align literally and figuratively, to have that story in a prime-time window—everybody wants to be part of that experience. So that's a rich, textured environment. When you look at how that evening played out with 23,000 people out in the fountain plaza waiting to get inside in full anticipation. It just felt big. It was crazy. So all that energy building up and the performance of the sisters delivered a great moment. They played their hearts out. It was tremendous. Terrific credit to Venus for staying in the moment. Serena having these moments of fragility, coming back and persevering, it was just a terrific story line.
Coming into Friday, I don't know that the tennis gods were going to line up and give us Serena going for the Grand Slam in the final and Fed and Djokovic for Sunday. That would have been the pinnacle for the tournament to end. For everything that Serena had achieved, the long career of these two Italian ladies had such tremendous back story. From a tennis perspective, it's still a pretty rich, textured story. So that's a win. In terms of what Saturday became, it's a heart-felt moment to have those two ladies who grew up together and had visions of playing in Rome, which was as far as they thought they would ever get. And then to have Flavia win the title and then announce her retirement, who saw that coming? No one saw that coming. So to have that courage and passion for the game was a very, very cool moment.
Tennis Now: Was there a visceral reaction among ESPN execs or production crew like "Holy crap we just lost the potential ratings windfall of Serena playing for the Slam?"
Jamie Reynolds: I think it's fair to say we all had hoped that Serena would be there in the final. That she would achieve 22 majors and win the Grand Slam. So from any perspective it's a difficult position, but not certainly the end of the world for us. We rode this tournament expecting any story to take us in a different direction at any point. The beauty of this, when you look long range, is it is the ultimate reality television. You can't have all these peaks and never have these valleys. It keeps the sport and the texture of the story alive. So you start extending yourself and thinking about the 2016 season. So now in 2016 it would be great if Serena came through and makes 22 in Oz. From a personal standpoint, I'd love to see Serena achieve 23 majors at Wimbledon and then wait for the summer. So from where we are as kind of stewards of the sport domestically, we'd like to see that story arc continue into the 2016 season. That's a win.
Tennis Now: Flavia Pennetta said the shadows from the roof structure took some time to adjust to playing. Was there anything from a technical perspective that presented a challenge for ESPN's production?
Jamie Reynolds: Look at Ashe Stadium from about 11 a.m. to 1 o'clock, with the horizontal shadow line it looks like Madrid. By the afternoon hour, from about 1 to about 3 o'clock it goes from a horizontal shadow line to a vertical line. So it changes over the course of time. You run the arc of the sun through the 12 hours of coverage a day and see the exposure and the shadow change. That lighting factor was new to the players and new to the fans. How calm it can be down there now without the wind is changing the texture for a lot of players. I think I had heard Andy Murray say he thought it was a disadvantage that there wasn't a circular wind pattern through the venue as there had been previously because he felt that actually gave him an advantage because he could play better in heavier conditions.
Tennis Now: Before the US Open, we spoke a bit about the possible technical enhancements to ESPN's coverage. Since completing this US Open what do you think of future technical enhancements?
Jamie Reynolds: We have a terrific foundation. Obviously, we'd all like to figure out how to make the edges a little more defined. Meaning when we have 18 to 22 cameras on Ashe and we're running eight cameras on Court 17 or Grandstand, we have enhanced the coverage pattern on the outer courts. Can we make all of those courts as robust? It depends where the need is and how valuable the competition there is in the future. To enrich all of those outer courts and get them to the level of sophistication in terms of coverage patterns, that's one of our goals.
Tennis Now: When you say that, do you mean more cameras and camera angles?
Jamie Reynolds: Camera angles and whether we have the luxury of having super slo-mo, ultra-mo other camera heads that enhances the coverage. Typically, outer-court coverage tends to be a little bit lighter just because the demand maybe a little bit less than the primary show courts. Our goal, and the longer-range vision, is to get every court at a level of sophistication and coverage that it's virtually indiscernible whether or not you're on Court 5, Court 13 or Court 11. It's striving for a level of coverage that accentuates the match, not just delivers the match.
Tennis Now: I liked the studio set you built right on the practice court. So you see Serena or Roger or Novak practice then they can come right over for a sit-down interview. Was there any push-back from players that the cameras on practice court are too close for comfort?
Jamie Reynolds: What other professional sport are you allowed to host a show during practice? Maybe spring baseball. You're never invited to be on the field hosting show. The closest analogy is maybe being on a driving range and hosting a show during a golf major. The beauty of week one to have Federer practicing alongside of Serena and Andy on over your shoulder working on his serve, you're in the fabric of the tournament. That's a win. That ended up being one of the biggest wins that was embraced by players, coaches, the talent in that we're conveying this tournament from a different perspective.
Tennis Now: ESPN had a ground-breaking moment when Pam Shriver interviewed CoCo Vandeweghe on court during a US Open match. Other players like Federer and Serena said it was a little bit too intrusive for them. Where do you see the on-court interview going? Does it take a player like a CoCo or a Bethanie Mattek-Sands, a bit more open personality for that to work? Whose idea was it?
Jamie Reynolds: It was a collective idea. When you look at what you can do to enhance coverage of the sport, you need access to the players. Seeing the players on the practice court is kind of taking the viewers behind the velvet ropes. The next step is to have that primary voice of the players during the telecast of the match. If you can put a wireless microphone on LeBron James during the NBA Finals or you can talk to a NASCAR driver or a Formula One driver during a race or a manager during the World Series then why can't we gain access to players and certainly coaches during the match itself? Who better than that primary voice of the player in that moment?
In order to help keep the traditional viewers and a new audience attached to this event that's one of the strength positions. You have to hear from the competitors. You hear coaches huddles in the NBA during time-outs. We're not giving away strategy. The beauty of that interview with CoCo we saw her on her chair staring straight ahead with her leg shaking during the interview. That tells you a lot. It shows you how in the zone and fully focused CoCo was. That resonates. That's a great ability for the viewer to say "Gosh, I feel like I'm in the moment with her." It's intense.
Tennis Now: What was the player response to it? Did it take an American player to do it or could you have approached like Fognini and tried it?
Jamie Reynolds: The night before, we put the ask in to both players in the matches we'd be investing in. We did that throughout the tournament. The criteria was we could only speak to the player that was in the lead at the end of the first or second set because we didn't want to derail a player in the moment. Under that criteria, we had to make sure we could land a reporter on the match when a set was ending. So we would ask, try to line things up, then we had to hope that the leader at the end of a set, was the right person who was like "Yeah, I'd love to do it."
This is a long-range initiative. It's not something we're just trying to do here at the US Open. The USTA was behind it. A lot of the players on the ATP and WTA were intrigued by it. It is certainly going to come down the road.
Tennis Now: But you can't see an on-court interview happening at Wimbledon can you?
Jamie Reynolds: I think it's a great question. The next opportunity will certainly come in Australia. We'll see what happens.
Tennis Now: What's the story with celebrities in the stands for matches. Like when Donald Trump comes to see the Williams sisters do you have the authority to shoot an celebrity? Or if Leonardo DiCaprio or Drake comes to the Open and doesn't want to be on TV do you have to respect that? What's the rule?
Jamie Reynolds: We have latitude, fortunately, with the USTA to celebrate all of the celebrities that come to the Open. Whether it's the blue-carpet walk where they all arrive or in the suites. It's sports theater, that's what this is all about. A lot of those celebrities are typically coming in as guests of sponsors or guests of the USTA so they're around the grounds, around the suites in the venue. We'll put in the request for the interview with one of our personalities during a match. And if they say no then we'll celebrate the fact that they're here and show them on camera. Some others enjoy doing the interview and we're glad to do that.
Tennis Now: You get a reminder of what a rock star Roger Federer is when you see the entire plaza filled up when Federer does his ESPN interview in your studio near the fountain. People line up to take photos of the back of Federer's head. Any behind the scenes story you can share of the interviews with Roger?
Jamie Reynolds: He is the consummate ambassador for the sport. Federer has such sincerity and such respect for the fan base that helped him achieve his success. We try to take advantage of the fact Fed fan nation is out there. Fed fan nation is following him wherever he is and they're so respectful and supportive of him. The fact he will stand up after an interview with us and wave to the fans and give them that acknowledgement, we call it "The Pope Shot."
The reciprocity that they give him back in adoration and respect, it's just a visceral attachment, the energy he conveys and how he sparks that curiosity with the fans, that desire to be in his presence and see what he achieves. That's awesome to see and pretty powerful.