BT Sport is to cover three of the UK’s showpiece summer grass court tournaments in the run up to Wimbledon 2014 after confirming a one-year agreement with the Lawn Tennis Association.
The deal brings live coverage of the Edgbaston, Queen’s Club and Eastbourne events to the BT Sport network for the first time, all of which will be staged in the two weeks prior to the start of the third Grand Slam tournament of the year at SW19.
BT Sport will show exclusive live coverage of the WTA AEGON Classic which takes place at the Edgbaston Priory Club, Birmingham, from June 9-15, featuring former world number 1 players Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, as well as last year’s Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki.
In the same week, BT Sport will screen live action from the AEGON Championships at The Queen’s Club on ESPN, sharing existing coverage of this ATP 250 tournament with the BBC.
The defending champion and last year’s Wimbledon winner Andy Murray has confirmed he will return to try and join John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick as the only four-time winners of one of the most famous trophies in tennis.
World number five Tomas Berdych, 2011 runner-up Jo Wilfried Tsonga, world number 12 Grigor Dimitrov and former Queen’s champion Hewitt have all signed up to play, while Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka has been given a late wildcard into the event.
Then in following week, the last before The Championships get underway at SW19, BT Sport will again share live coverage with the BBC of the AEGON International in Eastbourne.
Running from June 16-21, BT Sport’s coverage event at Devonshire Park will feature matches from both the men’s and women’s tournaments, while the BBC’s output will focus solely on the women’s draw.
The top seed will be world number three and 2012 Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska, who will face strong competition from the 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, former world number one Caroline Wozniacki and rising American star Sloane Stephens.
In addition, BT Sport will also broadcast live coverage of a special all-star line-up of exhibition mixed doubles matches at Queen’s Club and Birmingham on Sunday, June 15, as British Tennis stages the ‘Rally for Bally’, in memory of former British number one Elena Baltacha, who recently passed away after losing her courageous fight against liver cancer.
Andy Murray and doubles specialist Ross Hutchins, himself a cancer survivor and now tournament director of the AEGON Championships, will play on opposing mixed doubles teams at Queen’s Club, while 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova, Anne Keothavong, Tim Henman and Jamie Murray will all play in Birmingham.
Proceeds will be split equally between the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and the Elena Baltacha Academy of Tennis.
The new LTA deal also adds to BT Sport’s line-up of live sport over the summer months, including World Cup warm-up and pre-season matches, MotoGP, UFC, ITU World Triathlon Series and the World Rally Championship.
Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “We’re set for a glorious summer of grass court tennis on BT Sport.
“We will be bringing viewers the world’s best players at some of the world’s best grass court tournaments as they prepare for Wimbledon.
“We’re honoured to be able to bring the Rally for Bally to a wider audience, helping British Tennis to celebrate the life and memory of Elena Baltacha, as well as raising funds for extremely worthy causes.”
BT Sport takes over the rights to cover the three LTA events from British Eurosport, ending the pan-European channel’s decade-long association with the UK-based pre-Wimbledon tournaments, however it will instead cover the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, featuring Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
Michael Downey, LTA chief executive, said: “Our world class major events inspire tennis fans around the world and I’m delighted that BT Sport will be helping us to take these tournaments to an even bigger audience, as well as promoting the Great British Tennis Weekends.
“This year, the Aegon Classic in Birmingham has been upgraded to a WTA Premier 600 level tournament, with more points, prize money and Top 20 ranked players, so it’s fitting and exciting that we have a new television partner in BT Sport that will devote more hours of live coverage to the event than ever before.
“By also sharing rights with the BBC for the Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club, and the Aegon International in Eastbourne, BT Sport will tell the full story of our summer grass court tournaments in the lead-up to Wimbledon.”
BT Sport holds the rights to show 21 live WTA Tour tournaments exclusively live, including the five elite events Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing and the end-of season WTA Finals in Singapore.
The channel’s WTA tennis coverage is hosted by Lynsey Hipgrave, with analysis and commentary from former British Number One Sam Smith, tennis legend Martina Navratilova and former British number one Anne Keothavong.
As well as boosting television coverage of the sport in Britain, BT Sport will help to promote the Great British Tennis Weekends, which see thousands of park sites and clubs up and down the country offer completely free opportunities to play the game.
For more information about BT Sport’s coverage this summer, visit btsport.com.
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| JUNE 9-15 |
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AEGON Classic Edgbaston Priory Club, Birmingham |
WTA |
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| JUNE 9-15 |
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AEGON Championships Queen’s Club, London |
ATP 250 |
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| SUNDAY 15th JUNE |
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Rally for Bally Queen’s Club & Birmingham |
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| JUNE 16-21 |
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AEGON International Eastbourne |
WTA / ATP |
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