Tennis Channel to Air Live, Daily Coverage as WTA Returns
July 29, 2020
LOS ANGELES, July 29, 2020 – Tennis Channel will have live daily coverage of the WTA’s 31st Palermo Ladies Open in Palermo, Italy, August 3-9 – the first professional tour-level event since the sport shut down in March due to the global pandemic. The initial telecast will begin at 10 a.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 3, and run until approximately 6:30 p.m. ET (complete schedule below). The network will follow a similar daylong schedule throughout the week, culminating with the final at 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday, August 9.
The clay-court 31st Palermo Ladies Open features a number of top-ranked women’s players. This includes major champions Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Ostapenko. Petra Martic, ranked among the top 15 singles players in the world, is also slated to play.
Steve Weissman (@SteveWeissman) and Russ Thaler (@RussThaler) will announce the 31st Palermo Ladies Open for Tennis Channel. Former players Chanda Rubin (@ChandaRubin) and Jan-Michael Gambill (@JanmikeGambill) will offer analysis, as will Sports Illustrated editor and author Jon Wertheim (@jon_wertheim). The network will wrap each day’s coverage with a 30-minute edition of Tennis Channel Live from its studio in Los Angeles. Encore replays of each day’s matches will run from the end of Tennis Channel Live through the night up to the start of the following day’s play.
Tennis Channel is planning live coverage throughout August as professional men’s and women’s tour tennis makes its return. Beyond the competition in Palermo next week, the network will carry the women’s Prague Open in Prague, Czech Republic, and Top Seed Open in Lexington, Ky., Aug. 10-16; the men’s and women’s Western & Southern Open in New York (usually held in Cincinnati) Aug. 21-28; and the US Open in New York Aug. 31-Sept. 12.