The ESPN Tennis Team for the 2023 Australian Open
James Blake, who joined ESPN for Wimbledon in 2020, will serve as an analyst. Once ranked as high as No. 4 in the world, Blake won 10 titles during his playing career (1999-2013) and seven more in doubles. He was part of the 2007 victorious U.S. Davis Cup team and placed fourth at the 2008 Olympics. The tournament director of the Miami Open, his memoir, Breaking Back, was a New York Times Best Seller.
Darren Cahill, who once reached the US Open semifinals and the Australian Open doubles final, has worked for ESPN since 2007 as an analyst and calling matches. As a coach, he guided Lleyton Hewitt to become the youngest player ever ranked No. 1 and Andre Agassi to be the oldest ever. In 2017 and 2018, he coached Simona Halep to No.1 on the WTA Tour and win her first Major, the 2018 French Open. After a 12-month hiatus, they reunited in 2020 before splitting again in September 2021.
Chrissie Evert, a Hall of Famer who joined ESPN as an analyst in 2011, counts a record six US Opens among her 18 Major titles. She recorded the best career win-loss record in history, reached more Major singles finals than any man or woman (34), and reached the semis or better in 34 consecutive Majors (1971-83). The AP Female Athlete of the Year four times, in 1976 she was the first woman to be the sole recipient of Sports Illustrated’s Sportswoman of the Year. Played the Australian Open six times (1974 the first), reaching the finals every time, winning twice.
Mary Joe Fernandez, an ESPN analyst since 2000, played in three Major singles finals and won two Majors in doubles, won a Gold Medal in doubles at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics and a Bronze in singles in 1992. She was the coach of the United States’ Fed Cup team for eight years, stepping down in 2016, and coached the 2012 and ’16 U.S. women’s Olympic team.
Chris Fowler – who joined ESPN in 1986, came aboard the ESPN tennis team in 2003 and is the lead ESPN/ABC college football play caller – is the lead voice to call matches. He hosted College GameDay on football Saturdays 1990-2014, and has hosted World Cup soccer, college basketball including the Final Four, the X Games and Triple Crown horse racing events. Originally, he was the first host of Scholastic Sports America and later was a SportsCenter anchor.
Brad Gilbert, an analyst whose flair and unique nicknames for players has enlivened ESPN’s tennis telecasts since 2004, parlayed his playing career – once ranked No. 4 in the world and reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open and at Wimbledon – into coaching Andre Agassi (six Major titles with Brad), Andy Roddick (US Open victory) and Andy Murray.
Jason Goodall will serve all three on-air roles: calling matches and serving as a studio and match analyst. A one-time standout among Juniors in Britain whose career was ended by injury at 21, he later coached Jennifer Capriati as well as ESPN’s Mary Joe Fernandez and Pam Shriver.
Patrick McEnroe, who has worked for ESPN since 1995, as an analyst and calling matches, was the U.S. Davis Cup captain 2001-2010 and in 2007 the team won its first championship since 1995. A three-time singles All-American at Stanford – where the team won NCAA titles in 1986 and 1988 – he served as General Manager, USTA Elite Player Development from 2008 – 2015. He won the 1992 French Open doubles title and reached the 1991 Australian Open semifinals in singles.
John McEnroe won seven Grand Slam singles titles during his storied career, which included 10 more major championships in doubles or mixed doubles. He also led the U.S. to four Davis Cup titles and won the NCAA’s while attending Stanford. He has worked for ESPN as an analyst since 2009.
Chris McKendry returns as host, a role she has filled at all the Majors for ESPN. She joined ESPN in 1996 as a SportsCenter anchor, and later hosted the Little League World Series and X Games. As of Spring 2016, she focuses on tennis. She attended Drexel University on a tennis scholarship.
Pam Shriver, who started working for ESPN in 1990, long before her Hall of Fame career ended, will call matches and serve as an analyst. She played in the 1978 US Open finals at age 16 (losing to Evert) and won 21 Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles (another in Mixed). Those include five at the US Open. She took home a Gold Medal in doubles at the 1988 Olympics.
Rennae Stubbs, who enjoyed a long career in doubles – winning six Majors: four in women’s and two in mixed, representing Australia at four Olympic Games and for 17 years in Fed Cup – will be an analyst. She’s worked for ESPN for many years, and for NBC at the Olympics and for Tennis Channel.