Wimbledon is Back Tomorrow, Djokovic First on Centre Court

Tennis

Wimbledon is Back Tomorrow, Djokovic First on Centre Court

“First Ball to Last Ball” Coverage from Every Court for Two Weeks across ESPN Platforms

It’s been a long two years but once again tennis world will gather for its traditional summer visit to the grass courts of The All England Lawn Tennis Club for The Championships, Wimbledon.  Play will commence tomorrow, Monday, June 28, with action across all 18 courts live and exclusive to ESPN platforms.  Matches on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and on the ESPN App will start at 6 a.m. ET.  

Two-time defending champion and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic will begin his quest for the third leg of a calendar year Grand Slam – and a tie for men’s record of 20 career Major titles) by opening Centre Court at 8:30 a.m.  His opponent is Jack Draper of Great Britain, a 19-year-old left-hander.  Following that match, American Sloane Stephens will take the big stage to face No. 10 and two-time winner Petra Kvitova, followed by fan favorite Andy Murray, a two-time champ, against No. 24 Nikoloz Basilashvili.  

Other featured matches on the planned 10.5-hour telecast (switches to ESPN2 at 11:30 a.m.) include American No. 23 Madison Keys vs. Katie Swan, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka vs. Monica Niculescu, American No. 4 Sofia Kenin vs. Xinyu Wang, No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. American Frances Tiafoe and No. 10 Denis Shapovalov vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber. 

Some of the top matches on ESPN+ include five-time champion Venus Williams vs. Mihaela Buzarnescu (fourth on No. 2 Court), the 2017 champion No. 11 Garbiñe Muguruza vs. Fiona Ferro (first on No. 2), American Denis Kudla vs No. 30 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (first on Court 7), No. 5 Andre Rublev vs. Federico Delbonis, American Mackenzie McDonald vs. No. 25 Karen Khachanov (second on Court 5), 6’11” American No. 27 Reilly Opelka vs. Dominik Koepfer (second on Court 14), Madison Brengle vs. Christina McHale in a battle of Americans (second on Court 16), American No. 22 Jessica Pegula vs. Caroline Garcia (third on Court 4), American No. 28 Alison Riske vs. Tereza Martincova (third on Court 11) and highly touted 20-year-old American Sebastian Korda vs. No. 15 Alex de Minaur (fourth on Court 14, not before 12 p.m. ET).  

The fortnight of action will climax with the Ladies’ Championship and the Gentlemen’s Doubles Championship on ESPN on Saturday, July 10, and the Gentlemen’s Championship on Sunday, July 11, followed by the Ladies’ Doubles Championship and the Mixed Doubles Championship.   

First Week Highlights:  All Day, Daily Coverage across TV, ESPN+ and ESPN3 

  • The first five weekdays, ESPN begins at 6 a.m. ET for daylong coverage (transitioning to ESPN2 at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Friday), scheduled to end at 4:30 p.m.  The action also gets started live at 6 a.m. streaming on ESPN+ and ESPN3. 
  • The ESPN App will be the all-in-one streaming home for Wimbledon, with ESPN and ESPN2 telecasts and the matches streaming on ESPN+ and ESPN3. Combined, the app will stream more than 500 matches in the two weeks, totaling 1,500 hours from all 18 courts (Centre, Courts 1-12, 14-18.), plus AELTC’s daily The Wimbledon Channel and an all-day feed with press conferences from the media centre at the All England Club. Matches will also be available on demand afterwards.   
  • On Saturday, July 3, ESPN begins at 7 a.m. with the one-hour Breakfast at Wimbledon before another day full of action (11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. will be on ESPN2).  
  • On the “middle Sunday,” July 4 – the last edition of Wimbledon’s traditional day of rest before a new schedule commences in 2022 – ABC will broadcast a three-hour review of the first week at 3 p.m.  In addition, ABC will present encore presentations of the singles championships on the day they take place, July 10 and 11, at 3 p.m. 

ESPN & WIMBLEDON 2021, First Week 

Date  Time (ET)   Event  Network(s)   
Mon, Jun 28 – 

Sun, Jul 11  

(no play Sun, 7/4) 

6 a.m.  All 18 Courts, all day 

The Wimbledon Channel (from AELTC) 

A feed with press conferences 

Daily highlights (after each day’s play) 

Coverage includes Spanish language 

ESPN3 

ESPN+ 

Live 
         
Mon, Jun 28   

 

6 – 11:30 a.m. 

6 a.m. – 2 p.m. 

First Round Action  ESPN  

ESPN Deportes 

Live  
  11:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.   First Round Action  ESPN2  Live 
Tue, Jun 29  6 – 11:30 a.m. 

6 a.m. – 2 p.m. 

First Round Action  ESPN 

ESPN Deportes 

Live 
  11:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.  First Round Action  ESPN2  Live 
Wed, Jun 30  6 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. 

6 a.m. – 2 p.m. 

Second Round Action  ESPN 

 

ESPN Deportes 

Live 
Thu, Jul 1  6 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. 

6 a.m. – 2 p.m. 

Second Round Action  ESPN 

 

ESPN Deportes 

Live 
Fri, Jul 2  6 – 11:30 a.m. 

6:35 – 8:50 a.m. 

10:05 a.m. – 2 p.m. 

Third Round Action  ESPN 

ESPN Deportes 

ESPN Deportes 

Live 
  11:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.  Third Round Action  ESPN2  Live 
Sat, Jul 3  7 – 8 a.m.  Breakfast at Wimbledon   ESPN   Live  
  7:05 – 8:55 a.m.  Third Round Action  ESPN Deportes  Live 
  8 – 11:30 a.m.  Third Round Action  ESPN   Live  
  10:15 a.m. – 2 p.m.  Third Round Action  ESPN Deportes  Live 
  11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.  Third Round Action  ESPN2  Live 
  2 – 5 p.m.  Third Round Action  ESPN  Live 
Sun, Jul 4  3 – 6 p.m.  Highlights of Week One  ABC  Tape 

 

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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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