REPORT: Sky Secures Broadcasting Rights To ATP, WTA Events Across Six Countries - UBITENNIS
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REPORT: Sky Secures Broadcasting Rights To ATP, WTA Events Across Six Countries

Tennis fans in some European nations, including the UK, will soon have to subscribe to the broadcaster is order to watch the sport on TV.

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The Stadium Court at Cincinnati (photo Twitter @cincytennis)

Tennis is set to return to Sky Sports in the UK from next year after the company locked in a substantial international broadcast deal, according to a report

 

SportBusiness has quoted ‘multiple sources’ confirming that Sky will become the home of tennis from 2024 after signing a deal to show both ATP and WTA events. The deal isn’t just linked with the UK with agreements also made for their branches in Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. It is understood that in these six countries, Sky has signed a five-year deal where it will broadcast the sport between 2024-2028. 

Exclusive rights have been granted to almost every ATP and WTA event as part of the contract. However, there are exemptions with some tournaments that sell their domestic rights separately to the ATP’s Tour rights package which is centralized by ATP Media. The same applies to certain WTA events. Although there is no official confirmation, it has been reported that these tournaments include Halle, Rome, Basel, Eastbourne, Queen’s, Hamburg and Vienna.

It is understood that Sky only signed one deal which included both the ATP and WTA. This was possible because DAZN approved the inclusion of WTA rights in the ATP’s ‘Europe-wide sales process.’ DAZN holds the WTA rights and acts as an agency which sells these to broadcasters. 

Whilst a final decision is yet to be made regarding how Sky will broadcast the tennis events, they could create their own specific channel or even two channels to separate the WTA and ATP events. In the UK Sky already has designated channels for football, cricket, golf, F1 and NFL. 

The development comes two months after it was confirmed that Sky had secured a five-year deal to show the US Open in the UK. Until now Amazon Prime had owned the rights. It is reported that Amazon didn’t make a bid to maintain its rights to show tennis in the UK and Ireland after this year.  

No information so far has been issued regarding how people in the UK will be able to watch tennis. The price for Sky Sports is in the region of at least £30 per month depending on certain criteria (if a person is an existing Sky customer etc). They could go down the avenue of creating separate TV channel which fans can subscribe to which could work out cheaper for viewers. For example, Sky Sports F1 costs £15. Both of these possibilities are still more expensive than Prime which currently charges £8.99 per month or £95 annually. 

Sky is yet to comment on the report and it is unknown when an official announcement will be made. 

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Hamad Medjedovic moves to 2-0 in Red Group at the Next Gen Finals in Jeddah

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Hamad Medjedovic edged past Luca Van Assche 4-2 2-4 4-3 (9-7) 4-1 to move to 2-0 In Red Group at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah one day after winning a marathon five-set match against Alex Michelsen. 

 

Medjedovic broke serve in the third game of the opening set to take a 2-1 lead. He held serve and saved two break points in the sixth game to close out the first set 4-2. 

Van Assche saved three break points at 2-2 before breaking serve in the sixth game  with a running forehand pass to seal the second set 4-2. 

Medjedovic earned a break point in the first game of the third set, when Van Assche made a double fault. Van Assche saved them to hold on his serve. Both players held on serve en route to a tie-break. Van Assche raced out to a 5-1 lead. Medjedovic won three consecutive points to claw his way back to 4-5. Van Assche earned three set points at 6-4, 6-5 and 7-6, but Medjedovic won the final three points to win the tie-break 9-7. 

Medjedovic left the court for nine minutes for a bathroom break. 

Medjedovic broke serve in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. When he was serving out the match, he saved three break points as he closed out the win with two unreturned serves. 

“For sure the tie-break changed a lot of things in this match. He had three set points. I stayed focused on the important points. I was consistent, hitting the ball hard, and I am glad that I won the tie-break”, said Medjedovic. 

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Abdullah Shelbayh upsets Alex Michelsen to win his first win at the Next Gen Finals in Jeddah

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Jordan’s wild card Abdullah Shelbayh beat world number 97 Alex Michelsen 4-2 1-4 4-0 4-0 to clinch his fourth top 100 win. Shelbayh moves to 1-1 in Red Group. 

 

Shelbayh hit 26 winners, including seven aces. The Asian player will face Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic in his third round robin match. 

Shelbayh earned the first break in the third game of the opening set to take a 2-1 lead. The wild card held his next two service games at 30 to close out the first set 4-2. 

Michelsen, who reached the ATP 250 final in Newport last summer, broke in the second game of the second set to take a 2-0 lead, when Shelbayh made a backhand error. 

Michelsen earned a break point in the first game of the third set, but Shelbayh saved it with an ace. The Jordanan player held serve before breaking serve to close out the third set 4-0. Shelbayh won four consecutive games with two breaks of serve to win the fourth set 4-0. 

“Having the opportunity to play here now to finish here, I could not ask for a better end to the year. I appreciate all the support throughout the week that I have been receiving already, throughout the year and from the Arab world especially. It makes me happy to represent my country. There is some pressure but you feel like it’s good pressure to have on you shoulders when you are representing your country and the region you come from”,said Shelbayh. 

Shelbayh improved his ATP ranking from world 470 to 185. His tennis idol is Rafael Nadal. Shelbayh has trained at the Rafa Nadal for more than five years. Toni Nadal flew to Jordan when Shelbayh was 13 years old to recruit him to train at the Rafa Nadal Academy. He became the first Jordanan player to win a main-draw ATP Tour match last April against Elias Ymer in Banja Luka. 

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Arthur Fils eases past Flavio Cobolli to move to 2-0 at the Next Gen Finals in Jeddah

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World number 36 Arthur Fils eased past Flavio Cobolli 4-1 4-2 4-2 in 59 minutes to move to 2-0 in Green Group at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah. Fils won 72% of his first service points and fired five aces. 

 

Fils saved a break point in the first game on the deciding point. The Frenchman broke serve in the second game and rallied from 0-30 down to hold serve in the third game. 

Fils served out the first set 4-1 with a hold at love. 

Cobolli made a double fault at 30-30 in the first game of the second set, but Fils broke serve when Cobolli hit his backhand into the net. 

Cobolli saved a break point with an ace on the deciding point in the third game. Fils won his next two service games with ease to seal the second set 4-2. The Frenchman dropped two points on serve in the second set.

Fils earned an early break in the first game of the third set. Cobolli broke straight back to draw level to 1-1. Fils broke for the second time at love in the third game with a backhand down the line return winner and sealed the win on his second match point. 

Fils, who beat Luca Nardi in five sets in his opening match, will face Dominic Stricker in his third round-robin match. 

“I played very nice today. I served very good, and I was moving well on the court, so I am very happy with it. Tomorrow I have a good match against a great opponent. He already beat me once this year, so let’s what I can do”, said Arthur Fils. 

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