McEnroe named as British Eurosport on-air commentator
Former world number one and seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, John McEnroe will join Eurosport’s commentary team for the 2015 French Open from 24 May to 7 June. The tennis superstar completes Eurosport’s leading line up of tennis experts covering the Grand Slam and follows the recent signing of global tennis icon, Chris Evert who will headline her own pan-European French Open analysis show, ‘Tennis for Evert’.
Broadcasting from Eurosport’s studios in the centre of the action at Roland Garros, McEnroe will offer his unrivalled honest insight into the game and its players, taking the viewer inside the minds of the stars and what they have to do to win.
McEnroe will deliver commentary for seven matches on British Eurosport. He also will participate in two editions of Eurosport’s pan-European daily talk show ‘Game, Set and Mats’, with fellow former world number one Mats Wilander, and deliver his unique analysis throughout the tournament, which will be broadcast across Europe.
“John McEnroe’s unique insight into the game will add a further edge to our programming,” said Peter Hutton, Chief Executive Officer, Eurosport. “This exciting news follows our announcement of Chris Evert as a Eurosport pundit and further demonstrates our commitment to invest in the highest quality production to our viewers and make Eurosport the premier destination for tennis.
“This year, our coverage of the French Open is bigger and better than ever: we have over 400 hours of broadcast and up to 15 courts available live on the Eurosport Player, offering an extensive viewer experience to tennis fans,” continued Hutton.
Last year Eurosport delivered record ratings for the 2014 French Open, capturing its highest average live audience in 25 years of broadcasting from Roland Garros. Maria Sharapova’s victory over Simona Halep became the most-watched women’s tennis match in Eurosport history with an average live audience of 3.8 million European viewers, while Eurosport attracted 60.7 million European viewers throughout the tournament. The live average audience for the French Open in the UK rose by 79% in 2014 vs 2013.
McEnroe joins Eurosport’s tennis experts Chris Evert, Mats Wilander, Conchita Martinez, Henri Leconte, Greg Rusedski, Marion Bartoli, Virginia Ruzici, Àlex Corretja, Thomas Enqvist and Adriano Panatta. The full team will host Eurosport’s extensive coverage of the clay court Grand Slam.
McEnroe, an International Tennis Hall of Famer, won 77 ATP singles titles and 78 ATP doubles titles in his career. He also won 10 Grand Slam championships in doubles or mixed doubles in addition to his three Wimbledon singles titles and four US Open singles titles. He led the U.S. to five Davis Cup championships, later serving as the team’s captain.