2026 marked the latest edition of the French Open, which was also production company Whisper’s second year as host broadcaster. As the only Grand Slam venue on clay, Roland-Garros stands out from its peers, not least for being based in the heart of picturesque Paris.

Whisper and the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT) are working together to bring all those unique details of the French Open, as well as more of the action, to viewers around the world. SVG Europe caught up with Amandine Tyl, head of production and broadcast services at the FFT, and Dominic Gresset, executive producer at Whisper, to find out more.

As this was Whisper’s second year as host broadcaster for the FFT at Roland-Garros, how have you evolved your production in the 12 months in between? What were your learnings from last year, and what has changed?

Dominic Gresset (DG): Year one went really well, but we were still figuring out the tone, the expectations, and what really defines the FFT’s identity. This year, we came in with a much clearer sense of what hits the mark, more focused non-live content, tighter and more creative match coverage, and a better instinct for capturing the essence of Roland Garros.

With the learning curve out of the way, everything behind the scenes ran smoother. Communication between the host broadcast teams, suppliers, crews, and the FFT was sharper, which meant quicker decisions, fewer delays, and way more time to actually be creative

With a total of 893 people working on the event – 662 at Roland-Garros and 231 in our remote production hub in London – there was a tremendous amount of planning and preparation that went into making the show run smoothly. Most of the crew from year one came back, and with a few new faces, the team felt even stronger. Communicated faster, anticipated issues earlier, and delivered with a lot more consistency.

Last year taught us exactly where the pressure points are, from court movements to mixed zone timing, so this year we planned around them instead of reacting to them. We’re now in a place where we can anticipate what the FFT and their broadcast partners need. The whole relationship is even more collaborative, and the production reflects that shared mindset.

Technically, we levelled up too. Camera plans, audio, replay workflows, were all refined. And because the trust was there, we could push things further: more dynamic court coverage, more personality in our features, and a richer use of the tournament’s visual identity. We also added a new curated as-live behind-the-scenes feed, Inside Roland Garros, giving broadcasters direct access to arrivals, practice courts, the gym, locker room moments and overall, just more to enhance their programmes.

On top of the match coverage and features, we produced a whole slate of additional live programmes: the draw ceremony, a three-hour Gaël Monfils and friends show, two spectacular opening shows for the finals, digital post-finals live programmes, and five days of live player practice from Chatrier.

For the practice coverage, we brought in four students from a French university studying live TV. Under supervision, they directed eight cameras, covering over 40 hours of practice. That’s exactly the kind of legacy we want to build at Roland Garros; creating real opportunities for young French media professionals to grow with the tournament long-term.

What new technologies were introduced into the broadcast this year to boost your coverage?

Amandine Tyl (AT): Our technical setup is fairly complex, especially because it’s split across two geographically separate sites. The core principle of our workflow is that all content stays on site. Our teams in the remote production hub connect directly into the mainframes, EVS network, edit machines and more, through dual, diverse connection paths. This approach lets us scale our coverage without adding pressure to the already limited on site footprint, something we took advantage of this year with the addition of a new live behind the scenes programme.

We also upgraded coverage across all six main courts. That included four additional RF cameras, among them a new RF super slow motion unit used from the quarter finals onwards. On Chatrier, we introduced a new box lens position in the corner to capture tight player shots, fan reactions, and both player boxes. Court 14 moved from six to eight cameras, Court 6 saw its camera two position upgraded from a x20 remote lens to a manned x86, and Court 7 gained a remote pan bar setup with a x45 lens.

Beyond the courts, we added more beauty cameras and deployed a second drone on the west side of the venue to complement the existing one overlooking Chatrier. To support the increased camera count, we expanded our EVS capacity for recording and replay.

Outside of match coverage, we also improved the in-venue big screen operation. We introduced a bespoke system designed specifically for managing all venue screens, giving us a more streamlined, efficient setup with room to grow and enhance the experience in future years.

On top of everything else, we also refreshed the entire graphics package, giving it a new look and feel that stays true to the Roland Garros brand and its traditions. The update didn’t just modernise the aesthetic, it also enabled us to deliver fourth level data insights across all 16 match courts, providing broadcasters with richer, more detailed information for every match.

What technologies did you use this year that helped the FFT provide a great host broadcast to rights holders?

AT: In the first week of the three-week Roland Garros operation, we deliver up to 14 courts of qualifying matches, including English commentary on the Lenglen court. Alongside these matches, we also produced a live practice feed from Chatrier that can run for up to 12 hours a day. The broadcast partners also receive the Draw Ceremony live, and this year we produced a three-hour-long special on the Thursday night, Gaël and Friends.

Once the main draw begins, our output scales significantly: we produce and deliver 16 individual court feeds; on the four main courts we deliver both French and English graphics as well as English commentary; the fully produced International Super Signal (ISS), which runs from the start of play to the end of the day, showcases the best live and non-live moments from a fan focused perspective; plus the Inside Roland Garros behind the scenes programme.

On the non-live side, we generate more than 3,500 off court clips covering every aspect of a player’s journey before they step onto court. In addition to that, we produce a wide range of edited content, including daily openers used by many broadcasters around the world. We also deliver a 52 minute long daily highlights show and a tournament review programme. Digitally, we provide social media content for broadcast partners and a daily produced show called From Paris, with Clay. All this ensures broadcasters have a complete suite of content to enhance their coverage.

Alongside this, they continued to receive the seven live beauty cameras covering every corner of the venue, plus our Paris-based cameras capturing the Eiffel Tower, Sacré Cœur, Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe, all of which help bring the full atmosphere of Roland Garros and the city into their coverage.

We provide many varied and bespoke facilities for the broadcasters on-site, this includes:

• Commentary booth facilities
• RF cameras
• Bolero talkback
• Bespoke court feeds
• GPi’s from main courts
• Individual camera feeds
• IPD workflow and support

Of our 28 broadcasters, 20 were on site for the tournament, either with a light crew (commentators, reporters and an ENG team) or with dedicated production facilities. This marks our highest level of on-site broadcaster engagement to date.

The two main courts are produced in UHD HDR, and for all other courts we produce in 1080p HDR. The ISS, Inside Roland-Garros and the EVS network are all in 1080p SDR.

What was your workflow in terms of what and who was on site, and what and who were off site this year? Why have you chosen this workflow? How does it work?

DG: It was clear in our first year that space at Roland-Garros was at a premium, so we needed to divide the production into two categories: what had to remain on-site and what could be delivered remotely. We moved the ISS, 12 court productions, and the majority of our highlights and editing workflows to the remote hub, as these functions could operate just as efficiently off site.

For any remote production model, the two non-negotiables are minimal latency and high redundancy. We achieved both by keeping all mainframe equipment and all content on-site, close to the broadcaster distribution point. Operators in the remote hub accessed machines and media via remote surfaces, enabling seamless operation while using only minimal bandwidth.

Of the 893 people working on Whisper’s Roland-Garros production, 231 were based at our remote hub. Shifting this many roles off-site significantly reduced our footprint in the TV compound, giving the FFT more flexibility to allocate space to broadcast partners and other tournament needs.

This remote-first approach has also allowed us to expand our offering without increasing our on-site requirements. A good example is this year’s addition of the Inside Roland-Garros live feed, which we delivered entirely through the remote workflow. This model will continue to underpin future enhancements as we evolve our coverage.

Finally, Dominic, how is your relationship with the FFT evolving?

DG: The relationship between Whisper and the FFT has continued to grow over the last few years, evolving into a genuinely collaborative partnership where we work as one team to deliver robust, high-quality, technically advanced, innovative content for all broadcast partners.

Production specs for the main courts at Roland-Garros

• Court Philippe-Chatrier – 26 cameras, including a 4-point aerial camera system, netcams, three RF cameras, two superslo’s and an ultra-motion camera. For replays 5x EVS XT-Via machines.
  
• Court Suzanne-Lenglen – 20 cameras, including a 4-point aerial camera system, an RF camera, netcams, two superslo’s and an ultra-motion camera. For replays 5x EVS XT-Via machines.
  
• Court Simonne-Mathieu – 13 cameras, including a superslo, an ultra-motion camera, and netcams. For replays 2x EVS XT-VIA machines.