Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Live From Wimbledon: ESPN Shines Spotlight on Coco, Preps for Five-Week US Open Run

11/07/2019

Live From Wimbledon: ESPN Shines Spotlight on Coco, Preps for Five-Week US Open Run Dramatic rise of the American teen keeps production team flexible By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Thursday, July 11, 2019 - 10:11 am

Print This Story

Story Highlights

The Wimbledon Tennis Championships are heading into their final weekend, but, from day one, the event has been filled with dramatic storylines for ESPN. Right out of the gate, 15-year-old American Coco Gauff (the youngest qualifier ever) upset U.S. tennis legend Venus Williams and then managed to have a week for the ages before losing to Simona Halep in the round of 16. And, for the production team at ESPN, it let them innovate and also help out ABC News and Good Morning America.

ESPN's Joalin Goff says the team at Wimbledon is focused on activities at the AELTC while also planning US Open operations.

The big thing for us has been the Coco Gauff story, says Joalin Goff, manager, remote operations, ESPN. It was pretty intense, and we not only serve our machine but have a lot of people with ABC and Good Morning America. It has been really great in serving the interest in women's tennis.

Goff credits ESPN producer Willie Weinbum and VP, Production, Jamie Reynolds with working together to find the best solution to allow ABC's GMA team and broadcaster Robin Roberts to do a live interview from New York with Gauff and her family, who were located in Studio 12 at the Wimbledon Broadcast Centre. But Gauff's accomplishments provided a solid week-long storyline.

We had our first Sunday production meeting with talent, and, as we described the women's field, it was just a wide-open mess, quote-unquote, and we were challenged to say what's going to come out of this and who is going to grab hold of the tournament, says Reynolds. All of a sudden, we had that Monday-night episode between Coco and Venus, and that became an incredible story to split things up. And then you had it repeat again on Wednesday. And then she came back again on Friday and did it again. You can't believe the energy, enthusiasm, and excitement that was generated. This wasn't just a one-day thing; this was a week. And to see her maintain the composure and dynamic and competitiveness, it was terrific.

As Gauff captured the attention of not only tennis fans but sports and non-sports fans alike, an additional layer was provided by her extended family back home, gathering at the family's Paradise Sports Lounge in Delray Beach, FL, to watch the matches.

Coco Gauff's family and friends back home in Florida became part of ESPN's coverage of her matches.

Says Reynolds, We started to see on social media that there were some people there posting moments watching her matches, and so we took advantage of that. Some of the people there shared their videos with us, and it was raw in a very organic way, a real-time, unprocessed appreciation for Coco's journey.

Coverage of the watch parties evolved over Gauff's run: a SportsCenter crew began shooting the family and friends and eventually deployed a TVU system to transmit signals to Bristol and then onward to ESPN's Wimbledon control room.

The TVU system allowed the coverage to be more intimate than, say, a wide shot of the group, which can seem more like a shot from a security camera than from a broadcast camera.

The trend for us has been a return to the concept of having somebody embedded in the moment so you are there with those who are genuinely experiencing and enjoying that celebration, says Reynolds. How can you capture that moment and share it with an audience, so it doesn't just feel like you are observing it?

The efforts paid off ratings-wise. Gauff's match on July 5 reached a 1.9 rating, which Reynolds says bested the ratings for the men's final last year.

ESPN's main studio at Wimbledon

How do we continue to refresh people on what happened? We have the Breakfast at Wimbledon show Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday before the actual matches themselves, he says. And we've got some pretty good semis lined up.

Goff says another big story this year was the roof addition to the No. 1 Court. With two courts having a roof, match postponements due to weather or darkness, which can cause havoc with scheduling the rest of the tournament, are no longer an issue.

It's helped out a lot, she says.

Other enhancements include a two-point aerial camera system from ACS. Located on the golf course across the street from the AELTC grounds, it captures aerial tracking shots to provide a fresh perspective of the grounds and courts.

They also moved the hoist camera to the north side, and it gives a completely different texture to venue coverage, Goff explains. And we still have our portrait set at the Orchard Pavilion on top of Henman Hill.

Reynolds adds that the new hoist camera position amplifies what is happening on Henman Hill, a focal point for many of the fans onsite.

You're seeing the big screens and the relationship between the two roofed courts, he says. It's a fascinating grandeur that I don't think the club has seen in a while. It has always been there, but the fresh perspective offers a lot to the audience.

This is year two of Wimbledon Broadcast Services' handling the host production, and Reynolds says the WBS team has deployed additional robotic cameras around the practice courts and most of the other courts as well.

We're starting to recognize that there may still be areas that we can use ENG cameras to amplify and personalize, he adds. ESPN currently uses four ENG crews, two dedicated to on-court coverage that is unique and doesn't look like an iso-camera shot.

The other two ENG cameras are running around doing feature work, the Breakfast at Wimbledon shows, or following players o
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/07/11/live-from-wimbledon-espn-shines...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

13/03/2025

TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring for VOS360 Streaming Workflows at the 2025 NAB Show

TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring ...

13/03/2025

DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage Platform that Empowers Video Teams to Scale Effortlessly

DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage P...

13/03/2025

FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Life at NAB 2025 Exhibition

FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Lif...

13/03/2025

Ajit Pai Appointed President of CTIA

CTIA, the wireless industry association, has named former FCC Chairman Aji Pai as its President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1. He replaces Mere...

13/03/2025

NAB: FCC's 60 Minutes Investigation Is Unconstitutional, Invalid

he National Association of Broadcasters is urging the FCC to end its investigation of that controversial CBS interview with Kamala Harris stating there is no ...

13/03/2025

CBS Miami to Launch AR Coverage of Weather and Sports for March Madness

MIAMI CBS News & Stations continues to expand its use of augmented and virtual reality technologies with the planned launch of an augmented reality/virtual real...

13/03/2025

Meet the co-founder and chief customer success & innovation officer

Srividhya Srinivasan, co-founder and chief customer success & innovation Officer at Amagi, tells TVBEurope how staying ahead of the latest trends is essential f...

13/03/2025

FCC Chairman Carr Launches Massive Deregulation Initiative

WASHINGTON FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency has launched a massive, new deregulatory initiative that could potentially subject virtually all ...

13/03/2025

SDVI Integrates Rally With Spectra Vail

SUNNYVALE, Calif. SDVI has announced that it has integrated its Rally media supply chain management platform with the Spectra Vail multi-cloud data management s...

13/03/2025

FCC Approves Gray's Acquisition of KXLT

ATLANTA Gray Media has announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted a waiver of its local ownership rules to permit Gray Media to acqu...

13/03/2025

NAB Show 2025 Exhibitor Insight: Blackmagic Design

TV Tech: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2025 NAB Show?...

13/03/2025

Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice

Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice The songwriting major sang Stars by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals during the blind auditions. ...

13/03/2025

Italia 90 Republic of Ireland Squad, Riverdance, Cian Ducrot & B*Witched on Friday's Late Late Show

Here is your host, Patrick Kielty! Shake your Shamrocks, Patrick Kielty will be...

13/03/2025

RT Celebrating all things Irish this St. Patrick's Weekend

This St. Patrick's weekend, RT invites you to celebrate all things Irish, showcasing the very best of Irish sport, entertainment and live coverage from the...

13/03/2025

GTC 2025 - Announcements and Live Updates

What's next in AI is at GTC 2025. Not only the technology, but the people and ideas that are pushing AI forward - creating new opportunities, novel solution...

13/03/2025

T-Mobile, Thales and SIMPL ease IoT deployments with a flexible and secure connectivity solution

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn By combining T-Mobile's robust network, Thal...

13/03/2025

Relive the Magic as GeForce NOW Brings More Blizzard Gaming to the Cloud

Bundle up - GeForce NOW is bringing a flurry of Blizzard titles to its ever-expanding library. Prepare to weather epic gameplay in the cloud, tackling the genr...

13/03/2025

Gaming Goodness: NVIDIA Reveals Latest Neural Rendering and AI Advancements Supercharging Game Development at GDC 2025

AI is leveling up the world's most beloved games, as the latest advancements...

13/03/2025

Drop It Like It's Mod: Breathing New Life Into Classic Games With AI in NVIDIA RTX Remix

PC game modding is massive, with over 5 billion mods downloaded annually. Mods p...

12/03/2025

Como o Impacto Cultural e Financeiro da Indstria Musical Define Seu Sucesso em 2025

O Spotify acaba de lan ar o relat rio Loud & Clear deste ano, uma vis o transpar...

12/03/2025

Cmo el impacto cultural y financiero de la industria musical define su xito en 2025

Spotify acaba de presentar el informe Loud & Clear de este a o, una mirada trans...

12/03/2025

Nourish Mind, Body, and Soul This Ramadan With Spotify

Ramadan, a period of profound spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide, is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Enrich your experience thi...

12/03/2025

How the Music Industry's Cultural and Financial Impact Define Its Success in 2025

Spotify has just unveiled this year's Loud & Clear report, a transparent loo...

12/03/2025

FAST now transcends back catalog content

More than 70% of FAST programming has been produced since 2010, according to new Gracenote report NEW YORK March 12, 2025 Gracenote, the content data busin...

12/03/2025

Viamedia Adopts ShowSeeker Pilot To Streamline Ad Workflows

GEONA, Nev. Independent digital and linear advertising rep firm Viamedia will adopt cloud-based ShowSeeker Pilot as its primary ad campaign and order management...

12/03/2025

Mediagenix Appoints Wael Yasin as Sales Director Central Europe

BRUSSELS Mediagenix has announced that Wael Yasin has joined the company as sales director Central Europe....

12/03/2025

Omdia: Global Online Consumer Expenditure to Hit $6.6 Trillion by 2029

LONDON A new study highlights opportunities for shoppable TV and the massive impact online consumer spending is having on the economy, with Omdia predicting tha...

12/03/2025

Comcast Technology Solutions Upgrades to Interra Systems BATON Version 9

CUPERTINO, Calif. Interra Systems has announced that Comcast Technology Solutions has integrated recent updates to BATON Version 9 into its operations....

12/03/2025

Nevion announces new 400G addition to its eMerge SDN media fabric offering

Nevion announces new 400G addition to its eMerge SDN media fabric offering Brie Clayton March 12, 2025 0 Comments High-capacity switch enhances existi...

12/03/2025

DaVinci Resolve Studio Delivers Cinematic Sound for Adam Bol

DaVinci Resolve Studio Delivers Cinematic Sound for Adam Bol Brie Clayton March 12, 2025 0 Comments Feature film relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for ...

12/03/2025

SVT Leverages Ateliere Live to Pioneer 100% Software-Defined Production at Rally Sweden 2025

SVT Leverages Ateliere Live to Pioneer 100% Software-Defined Production at Rally...

12/03/2025

Berklee Awards Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant to Four Organizations

Berklee Awards Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant to Four Organizations A total of $17,000 will be distributed among the Boston-based nonprofits. By Madd...

12/03/2025

Offering a broad umbrella for IP standards

TVBEuropes Jenny Priestley sits down with new SMPTE president Richard Welsh to discuss his aims for the organisation going forward, its efforts to attract a you...

12/03/2025

Warner Bros Belgium takes a new approach to its post production workflows

The new process has significantly enhanced operational efficiencies, with automation freeing up creators to concentrate on higher value tasks By Matthew Corrig...

12/03/2025

Another VFX company suspends operations

Jellyfish Pictures, which has offices in London and Sheffield, said it has been battling hard in the face of strong headwinds over the last 12 months By Jenny ...

12/03/2025

Bitcentral to Showcase AI-Powered Innovations for Smarter...

Visit Booth #W2213 to Experience the Latest in AI-Driven Content Discovery and Workflow Automation Bitcentral, a leader in media workflow solutions, is set to ...

12/03/2025

Jeff Lilly Named WGN-TV Director Of Technology

CHICAGO Jeff Lilly has been named WGN-TV director of technology effective March 17, 2025, according to Ric Harris, WGN-TV vice president and general manager....

12/03/2025

Survey: Consumers Want More Shoppable TV Experiences

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. A new study from LG Ad Solutions indicates that consumers want more features that would allow them to shop for products on the connected T...

12/03/2025

IP Showcase To Focus On IP, Broadcast Tech Convergence at 2025 NAB Show

BOTHELL, Wash. The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the Video Services Forum (VSF) will once again present...

12/03/2025

Comcast Boosts Internet Speeds for More Than 20 Million Customers

PHILADELPHIA Comcast announced that it has upgraded Xfinity Internet speeds for more than 20 million customers for no additional cost....

12/03/2025

Create with Maxon: Cinema 4D Fundamentals Workshop - March 12-14

Create with Maxon: Cinema 4D Fundamentals Workshop - March 12-14 Brie Clayton March 11, 2025 0 Comments Makin' Waffles with Elly Wade During Marc...

12/03/2025

Ross Video Strengthens Cloud Leadership with Appointment of Aaron Tunnell

Ottawa, Canada - March 12, 2025 - Ross Video is pleased to announce the appointment of Aaron Tunnell as Business Development Director, Cloud Solutions, reinforc...

12/03/2025

VEON to release 4Q 2024 trading update on 20 March 2025

12 Mar 2025 VEON to release 4Q 2024 trading update on 20 March 2025 Dubai, 12 March 2025 - VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON), a global digital operator, today confirms ...

12/03/2025

Getting Set for the Winter Olympics: Inside SVT's Ongoing Software-Based Production Evolution

Getting set for the Winter Olympics: Inside SVT's ongoing software-based pro...

12/03/2025

Seamless SMPTE 2110: A Discussion on Making the Move to IP Less Painful

Seamless SMPTE 2110: A Discussion on Making the Move to IP Less Painful Leaders from Netflix, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, LinkedI, and Megapixel address ...

12/03/2025

Opening Doors of Perception: Meta's Ajit Ninan on Rethinking AR/MR Perceptual Displays

Opening Doors of Perception: Meta's Ajit Ninan on Rethinking AR/MR Perceptua...

12/03/2025

Sky Sports Unveils Exciting Plans for 2025 Formula 1 Coverage

With the 2025 Formula 1 season set to begin in Melbourne on March 16, Sky Sports is gearing up to deliver its most comprehensive F1 coverage yet. Following a th...

12/03/2025

Unicanal and Trece TV revolutionize Digital TV in Paraguay with Rohde & Schwarz transmission solutions

Unicanal and Trece TV revolutionize Digital TV in Paraguay with Rohde & Schwarz ...

12/03/2025

Honoring Service, Celebrating Sport: Rohde & Schwarz UK Sponsors NavyFit Rugby Double-Header

Honoring Service, Celebrating Sport: Rohde & Schwarz UK Sponsors NavyFit Rugby D...