NEW YORK – Whether they’re covering the Australian Open, the summer series or the US Open, tennis sideline reporters can spend long hours in the hot sun on the job. A late-summer heatwave here has been cited as a factor in numerous player retirements from the US Open.
In the video above, ESPN tennis analysts Pam Shriver and Brad Gilbert explain how they prepare to report despite the elements. Watch the men’s singles quarterfinals tonight (ESPN2, 8 ET) and doubles and women’s singles semifinals Thursday on ESPN and ESPN3. Visit ESPN MediaZone for more information.
Did you ever wonder how it came to be that the US Open found its home in what F. Scott Fitzgerald described as a “valley of ashes” in The Great Gatsby? In 1977, the open area that had been home to the 1964 World’s Fair including the old Singer Stadium was spotted from a plane by USTA executive W.E. “Slew” Hester, who was looking for a new home to the American tennis major which was out-growing its cozy confines at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills. Less than a year later, Singer Stadium had been renovated, becoming Louis Armstrong Stadium, and the US Open had moved to Queens.
Video produced by Dave Nagle and Jonothon Halley-McLeod
