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| WTA Tour Launching New Reality Show |
The WTA Tour is launching a 12-show reality TV series featuring 30-minute episodes on The Tennis Channel. The show, entitled “Dubai Duty Free Presents Real Life On The WTA Tour,” debuts August 8 with a behind-the-scenes look at Serena Williams on a shopping trip in Charleston, SC. Produced by the WTA and KC Productions, the show will examine the off-court life of players including Jennifer Capriati, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Maria Sharapova, among others. Episodes have been filmed in Dubai, Amelia Island, Charleston, Rome, Berlin, Paris and Wimbledon. Upcoming episodes will be filmed at the U.S. Open, the WTA’s season-ending tournament in L.A. and other WTA Tour stops. The show will also air in Europe on Eurosport (WTA). Serena Williams, on the show: “We have some exciting players out here, and I think it’ll be fun because a lot of people think that we just play Grand Slams. And a lot of people on the tour don’t have a life, but I do.” In L.A., Lauren Peterson writes a three-minute trailer of the show’s first 30-minute episode “proved that [as] Williams’ life on the court and on the fashion runway were spliced between clips of French player Sandrine Testud mugging for the camera with her 17-month-old daughter, Isabella” (L.A. TIMES, 7/20).
