LOS ANGELES, May 22, 2023 - Tennis Channel will have live coverage every day of the 15-day French Open again this year, its 17th year in Paris, from May 28-June 11. Between the network, its subscription-service Tennis Channel Plus and its free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel T2, fans will have access to close to 1,750 live hours of matches at Roland Garros (commonly called the French Open), the world’s most prestigious clay-court competition and the second major on the tennis calendar. Action on all platforms begins with the tournament’s outset, Sunday, May 28, at 5 a.m. ET.
In all, Tennis Channel viewers can expect more than 140 live hours of coverage this year, with another 190-plus hours of encores. As it has done since first televising the French Open in 2007, the network will become a de-facto “Roland Garros Channel” for 15 days. Typically this means 12 live hours from each day’s start of play at 5 a.m. ET to its concluding match, followed by all-night replays leading up to the next morning’s first ball (complete schedule below).
After showing the first round through quarterfinals May 28-June 7, Tennis Channel will air the mixed-doubles final and women’s semifinals on Thursday, June 8. The men’s semifinals will run Friday, June 9, followed by the Junior Girls’ and Boys’ Finals on Saturday, June 10. The women’s doubles final takes place Sunday, June 11. The network will show same-day encores of the men’s and women’s singles and doubles semifinals on the final weekend again as well.
T2 will provide close to 100 hours of live matches that will not be available on Tennis Channel this year, up from 80 hours last year during its first year on air. This will put more hours of French Open competition on U.S. television for free than ever before. Thirteen days of live coverage are planned from May 28-June 9, beginning most days at 5 a.m. ET. From May 28-June 2 T2 will be live from 5 a.m.-2 p.m. ET, and then again June 3-5 from 5 a.m.-12 p.m. ET. Live matches June 6-7 take place from 5 a.m.-1 p.m. and June 8 from 6 a.m.-10 a.m. On June 9 T2 will be live from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. T2 (and Tennis Channel) will become available on YouTube TV on June 1, day five of Roland Garros. All Samsung TV Plus users with 2017-or-newer Samsung smart TVs and Galaxy mobile devices currently get T2.
Subscription-service Tennis Channel Plus will be live 13 days as well, and offer every French Open match on demand following its completion. The platform will let users choose from up to 16 court feeds at once, with more than 1,500 live hours and 600 matches. Debuting at the tournament in 2014, Tennis Channel Plus is available to everyone in the United States, regardless of whether they subscribe to Tennis Channel.
Select Bally Sports regional networks around the country will provide up to 36 hours of live French Open play from May 28-June 5. During these nine days coverage will take place from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. ET. As with T2, matches on Bally Sports networks will not air on Tennis Channel.
This week Tennis Channel is including Roland Garros qualifying matches as part of its Courtside coverage of other clay-court tournaments leading into Paris. The network will show 15 live and more than 20 encore hours, with additional matches on T2 and Tennis Channel Plus. On Saturday, May 27, at 11 a.m. ET, Tennis Channel Live at Roland Garros will preview this year’s tournament.
On-Air Talent Tennis Channel’s robust on-air roster for Paris features Hall of Famers, tournament champions, decorated sportscasters and tennis experts. Hall of Famer and all-time great Martina Navratilova (@Martina) returns to the first event where she served as an analyst for the network, during its inaugural French Open in 2007. A mainstay ever since, her Roland Garros resume includes 11 championships as a player: two singles (1982, 1984), seven doubles (1975, 1982, 1984-1988) and two mixed doubles (1991-1992).
Fellow Hall of Famers Jim Courier and Lindsay Davenport (@LDavenport76) are also in the Hall of Fame and will return to the City of Light as analysts in 2023. Courier won French Open singles titles in 1991 and 1992, while Davenport took the mixed-doubles trophy home in 1996. Announcer Pam Shriver (@PHShriver) is the fourth Hall of Famer on Tennis Channel’s team. A dominant doubles player, she won five French Open championships: four doubles (1984-1984, 1987-1988; with Navratilova) and one mixed doubles (1987).
Former players Paul Annacone, (@paulannacone), Chanda Rubin (@ChandaRubin) and Caroline Wozniacki (@CaroWozniacki) are all major champions and back as Tennis Channel analysts during this year’s French Open coverage. Annacone won the 1985 Australian Open doubles titles and is also known for coaching Pete Sampras and Roger Federer to Grand Slam success. Rubin and Wozniacki also soared Down Under, with the former taking the 1996 doubles crown and the latter the singles in 2018.
Rubin will appear on the Tennis Channel Live tournament desk at the French Open, along with former player Prakash Amritraj (@PrakashAmritraj). Throughout the year Amritraj hosts the network’s “Prakash Worldwide” interview segments from events around the globe. Led by award-winning sportscaster Steve Weissman (@SteveWeissman), the desk will also feature reporter and essayist Jon Wertheim (@jonwertheim), an author, Sports Illustrated editor and CBS’ 60 Minutes correspondent.
Emmy Award-winning announcers Ted Robinson (@tedjrobinson) and Brett Haber (@BrettHaber) are back in the Roland Garros booth for Tennis Channel this year, as is former player Jason Goodall. Leif Shiras (@leifshiras) and Mark Knowles (@Knowlzee10s) also spent time on the pro circuit, with Knowles winning the French Open doubles title in 2007 during Tennis Channel’s first year at the event.
Analysts Jan-Michael Gambill (@JanmikeGambill), Jill Craybas (@jcray74), Jimmy Arias (@ariastennis), CiCi Bellis (@cicibellis) and Nicolas Pereira (@nicolaspereira) bring additional pro-tour experience to Tennis Channel’s French Open team. In 1981 Arias won the mixed-doubles championship in Paris. Announcers Brian Webber (@bwwebber) also has an Emmy Award to his name and will handle Roland Garros play by play this year, as will Gill Gross (@Gill_Gross).
Digital Coverage In addition to unmatched live and on-demand matches on Tennis Channel Plus, Tennis Channel’s digital Roland Garros coverage is extensive again this spring. The Tennis.com website and app bring the game to users like no other platform. A roadmap for longtime fans and novices alike, Tennis.com offers live scoring, tournament calendars and brackets, news, stories, highlights, win-prediction percentages, estimated start times for all matches, the opportunity to directly link to live or on-demand matches and information feeds built around favorite players. Anyone in the world with an iOS or Android system can access the free platform, which is the sport’s most comprehensive vehicle for staying on top of Roland Garros.
The second season of digital series Warm & Fuzzy, hosted by comedian Michael Kosta, will premier this week on Tennis.com, the network’s app and YouTube. Kosta hosts a top player like Coco Gauff, Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek and others each week for humorous and off-beat conversation that veers from the typical tennis press-conference line of questions.
The network’s “Racquet Bracket” game is also back this year, with the chance to guess winners at the beginning of the event. Also, 2023 marks the French Open return of the channel’s free Bally Sport Caller Match Predictor Game, which offers prizes throughout the tournament.
