@ESPNTennis & US Open, Day 1: Serena Starts Quest for Slam; Plus Djokovic, Nadal, Venus

Tennis

@ESPNTennis & US Open, Day 1: Serena Starts Quest for Slam; Plus Djokovic, Nadal, Venus

  • Serena – in a Tough Quarter Filled with Americans – Plays in Prime Time, Followed by Nadal-Coric
  • Intriguing First-Round Matchups: Nadal-Coric, Sharapova-Gavrilova, Venus-Puig, Stevens-Vandeweghe
  • Tuesday: Federer, Murray-Kyrgios, Wawrinka, Halep, Wozniacki, Kvitova & More
  • First Ball to Last Ball, Now Exclusive to ESPN – Action First Week Begins at 11 a.m. ET on ESPN3
  • SportsCenter live from US Open Monday 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET

ESPN’s first exclusive US Open starts Monday, Aug. 31, with a slate full of intriguing first-round matchups from the top half of both the men’s and women’s draws, highlighted by a prime-time doubleheader on Arthur Ashe Stadium at 7 p.m. on ESPN2:

  • Top seed and three-time defending champion Serena Williams plays Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia in the first step – of seven required – to achieve the sport’s first calendar year Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988
  • Two-time champ and No. 8 Rafael Nadal has a tough first opponent, the highly touted 18-year old Borna Coric of Crotia who defeated Nadal in their only meeting – in Basel a year ago.

The top half of each draw will play Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Sunday; the bottom half plays Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday-Labor Day Monday.

Monday’s other top women’s matches:

  • 3 and 2007 winner Maria Sharapova has a tough first-round opponent, 21-year Daria Gavrilova (ranked No. 37). They have split the two matches they have played.
  • 23 and two-time champ Venus Williams, 35, will play 21-year old Monica Puig of Puerto Rico (on Ashe, not before 1 p.m.).
  • Americans 22-year old Sloane Stephens (No. 29) and 23-year old CoCo Vandeweghe will square off.

Monday’s other top men’s matches:

  • 1 Djokovic, the 2011 US Open champ, plays Joao Souza of Brazil (follows V.Williams-Puig on Ashe).
  • 10 Milos Raonic, the big server from Canada, faces American Tim Smyczek.
  • The defending champion, No. 9 Marin Cilic, and 2014 finalist, No. 4 Kei Nishikori, are both in action.
  • 25 Fabio Fognini of Italy plays American Steve Johnson.

ESPN3’s 11-court offering – plus a feed in Spanish, one with three windows showing Ashe/Armstrong/Grandstand, and a feed with whip-around coverage of the first two hours of play – starts at 11 a.m. ET. ESPN’s coverage starts at 1 p.m., transitioning to ESPN2 at 6 p.m. ESPN’s extensive daily coverage will continue through the Women’s Championship on Saturday, Sept. 12, and the Men’s Championship on Sunday, Sept. 13.

Serena’s quarter of the draw is not only fraught with potential landmines – No. 8 Karolina Pliskova, No. 12 Belinda Bencic (the 18-year old Swiss who defeated Williams recently in Toronto) and No. 15 Agnieszka Radwanska, it is loaded with Americans: No. 19 Madison Keys, No. 23 Venus Williams and No. 29 Sloane Stephens, plus Madison Brengle, Irini Falconi, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe. The Williams sisters could meet in the quarterfinals.

In addition, the day play begins, SportsCenter on the Road – the 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. edition – will be on site with co-hosts Chris McKendry (a US Open host for ESPN) and Jay Crawford.

ESPN2’s live coverage of the opening Monday night will include the traditional Opening Night ceremony, highlighted by a performance from Arthur Ashe Stadium by multi-platinum singing artist Josh Groban. He will be performing songs off his current album, Stages.   Here, Groban and ESPN’s Patrick McEnroe prepare for how the singer can take part in the 2015 US Open: http://www.usopen.org/videos/.

Looking Ahead to Tuesday

The remaining first-round matches will be played Tuesday – including five-time champion No. 2 Roger Federer against Leonardo Mayer of Argentina, 2012 champ and No. 3 Andy Murray who faces controversial Australian Nick Kyrgios and No. 5 Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland playing Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain on the men’s side. Women in action those days include No. 2 Simona Halep (vs. Marina Erakovic of New Zealand), No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki (vs. American Jamie Loeb), No. 5 Petra Kvitova (vs. Laura Siegemund), No. 6 Lucie Safarova (vs. Lesia Tsurenko), No. 9 Garbine Muguruza, the Wimbledon finalist (vs. Carina Witthoeft of Germany) and two-time finalist Victoria Azarenka at No. 20 facing Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic.

ESPN has televised the US Open since 2009. An 11-year agreement with the USTA for exclusivity was announced in May 2013. A complete look at ESPN’s plans for the 2015 US Open including the daily schedule ( http://es.pn/1ECwZws ), a look at new technology ( http://es.pn/1MzW0yM ) and a conference call on programming and production plans (  http://es.pn/1PoHn0D ).

ESPN & the 2015 US Open

Date Time (ET) Event Network(s)
Mon Aug 31 10:45 a.m.1 p.m. US Open First Round ESPN3ESPN
  6 p.m. US Open First Round ESPN2
Tue Sep 1 10:45 a.m.1 p.m. US Open First Round ESPN3ESPN
Wed Sep 2 10:45 a.m.1 p.m. US Open Second Round ESPN3ESPN
  6 p.m. US Open Second Round ESPN2
Thur Sep 3 10:45 a.m.1 p.m. US Open Second Round ESPN3ESPN
  5 p.m. US Open Second Round ESPN2
Fri Sep 4 10:45 a.m.1 p.m. US Open Third Round ESPN3ESPN
  6 p.m. US Open Third Round ESPN2
Sat Sep 5 10:45 a.m.11 a.m. US Open Third Round ESPN3ESPN2
Sun Sep 6 10:45 a.m.11 a.m. US Open Round of 16 ESPN3ESPN2
Mon Sept 7 10:45 a.m.11 a.m. US Open Round of 16 ESPN3ESPN2
Tue Sep 8 10:45 a.m.Noon US Open Quarterfinals ESPN3ESPN
Wed Sep 9 10:45 a.m.11 a.m. US Open Quarterfinals ESPN3ESPN
  8 p.m. US Open Men’s Quarterfinals ESPN2
Thur Sep 10 Noon7 p.m. US Open Doubles MatchesUS Open Women’s Semifinals ESPN3ESPN
Fri Sep 11 Noon US Open Mixed Doubles Championship ESPN3
  3 p.m. US Open Men’s Semifinals ESPN / ESPN3
Sat Sep 12 Noon US Open Men’s Doubles Championship ESPN3
  3 p.m. US Open Women’s Championship ESPN / ESPN3ESPN Deportes
Sun Sep 13 Noon US Open Women’s Doubles Championship ESPN3
  3:30 p.m. US Open Men’s Championship Blue Carpet Special ESPN
  4 p.m. US Open Men’s Championship ESPN

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Dave Nagle

As I write this on 11-11-21, it's now 35 years for me at ESPN, the only real job I’ve ever had. I joined merely to help with the upcoming America’s Cup in Australia. I was told it would be for three months at all of $5.50 per hour. I like to say I simply kept showing up. I’ve worked on almost every sport, plus answered viewer calls and letters (people used to write!), given tours, written the company newsletter and once drove NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon to the local airport. My travels have been varied…I’ve been to Martinsville, Darlington, Indy and Super Bowls; the America’s Cup (all 3) in San Diego and College GameDay in the sport’s meccas such as Eugene, Auburn, Lubbock, Stillwater and more; the NBA Finals, Wimbledon (16 times and counting) and the “other Bristol,” the one with a race track in Tennessee. These days, my main areas are tennis, UFC, boxing, network-wide ratings (by month/quarter/year), and corporate communications documents, including fact sheets, chronologies, lists and nearly 35 of the Year in Review press releases. UPDATE EXACTLY ONE YEAR LATER: Today, November 11, 2022, I am retiring from ESPN -- 36 years to the day I began. As I ride off into the sunset – top down and E Street Radio blaring – I do so with so many wonderful memories, proud of my contributions and a heart full of gratitude for the opportunity. 
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