Tennis icon Cliff Drysdale culminates legendary ESPN broadcasting career with final US Open match
Cliff Drysdale, ESPN’s longest tenured broadcaster, a hall of famer and global voice of tennis, will retire after nearly 46 years with ESPN, calling the final match of his legendary career as part of Thursday’s US Open Women’s Semifinals coverage (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).
On Wednesday, Drysdale, one of the most respected figures in the game, was surrounded by his ESPN colleagues and friends on-set as they showered him with heartfelt tributes.
Cliff Drysdale, the longest-tenured broadcaster at ESPN, will retire after calling his final match (Thu, 7p ET)
He joined ESPN Sept. 14, ’79 & today received heartfelt tributes honoring his career surrounded by colleagues
Watch: https://t.co/kg2ljWb3S2 | Allen Kee/ESPN Images pic.twitter.com/hA8StCJHWa
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 3, 2025
The former championship player and advocate for players both on and off the court served as a tennis commentator for ESPN since the network’s very first telecast of the sport on September 14, 1979. It featured the U.S. vs. Argentina in a Davis Cup match in Memphis, Tenn., just one week after ESPN launched.
His legendary tennis career as a player, innovator and broadcaster earned Drysdale selection to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.
ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus honors ESPN tennis commentator Cliff Drysdale on his 46-year tenure at ESPN following his retirement announcement Wednesday pic.twitter.com/HaYxlGFV2h
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 3, 2025
Fellow tennis legend Rod Laver once said of Drysdale and his admirable low-key but elegant manner, “(he) could talk a lion into becoming a vegetarian.” With knowledge and objectivity, the affable and unflappable Drysdale, along with his instantly recognizable voice, has graced virtually every ESPN tennis telecast, first as an analyst, then calling play-by-play.
Drysdale has amassed an iconic broadcasting resume across all four majors, the Australian Open (1984-2024), French Open (1986-1993, 2002-2015), Wimbledon (since 2003) and the US Open (since 2009). In addition, for many years ESPN’s coverage of the U.S. Davis Cup team provided countless memorable moments. Drysdale worked the legendary John McEnroe-Mats Wilander match in St. Louis in 1982. The telecast, including their marathon six-and-a-half-hour battle, lasted nine hours and 17 minutes.
In 1998, Drysdale won the William Johnston Award for contribution to men’s tennis, given by the International Lawn Tennis Club of the U.S.A. In 1985 and ‘86 Tennis Magazine named Drysdale “Best Announcer” on television. In 1982, the readers of Tennis Magazine selected Drysdale as their “Favorite Television Announcer,” and in 1991 they selected him the “Best Tennis Announcer.”
Drysdale, who was ranked as high as No. 4 in the world, was in the year-end top 10 six times, and won 35 singles titles. One of the first players in the game to use a two-handed backhand, he won the German Championship in 1965 when he also finished as runner-up in the US Open singles competition at Forest Hills. In 1965 and 1966, he reached the semifinals at both Wimbledon and the French Open. He also captured 24 doubles crowns, highlighted by the 1972 US Open men’s championship with Roger Taylor. A veteran of 45 Davis Cup matches, in 1974 he led South Africa to the Davis Cup championship.
Drysdale was instrumental in changing the game in countless ways. In 1968, he was one of the “Handsome Eight,” signed by Lamar Hunt to start World Championship Tennis. He also played a key role in the founding of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and served as its first president (1972-74).
