Starting in 2009, ESPN could hold the rights to all four tennis Grand Slams.
As was reported last fall, USA Network is dropping its coverage of the U.S. Open after this year.
And while it looked like other networks could snatch the rights — including Versus — it only seemed to make sense the highest rated tennis tournament would move to ESPN.
TennisWeek reports ESPN will begin televising the U.S. Open in 2009. Neither ESPN nor the USTA confirmed this to TennisWeek, and an ESPN spokesman told the magazine “[w]e have said for months we’re talking to the USTA about the U.S. Open but there is no update.”
Gaining the U.S. Open would be a major coup for ESPN, which would hold the rights to all four Grand Slams at once. The network recently signed an extension with the All England Club to televise Wimbledon through 2013, and has the rights to the Australian Open and French Open through 2011.
In the past, ESPN has been wary of picking up the U.S. Open, thanks to scheduling conflicts. In late August and early September, the network has many commitments, from college football and preseason NFL to the Little League World Series and WNBA Playoffs. And because so many night matches are played at the U.S. Open, ESPN (or, more likely, ESPN2) would have to give up two weeks of prime time sporting events.
