Coco Vandeweghe had the "locker rooms and press area buzzing" yesterday after she granted a "brief on-court interview to ESPN commentator Pam Shriver" between sets of her first-round U.S. Open match against Sloane Stephens, according to Peter Bodo of ESPN.com. Vandeweghe "had been approached with the idea before the match." She said, "Pam explained it to me herself. She would come out and ask me two questions. It would be in between sets. If I didn't want her out there, I could just wave her away at any point in time." Bodo noted the "conventional wisdom is that any distraction from the task at hand during a match is a threat to a player's focus." Vandeweghe: "That was my original thought when I was first approached. But there's lots of distractions that go on during a tennis match." Top-ranked men's player Novak Djokovic said, "Most players in the locker room are talking about it. It's going to be interesting to see if somebody is going to follow-up and accept to do the same. I will not, definitely, at this tournament. But who knows? Who knows what's in the future?" Top-seeded women's player Serena Williams said, "Maybe that's the future of tennis, the future of where it's going. You know, hopefully they don't make that mandatory." ESPN VP/Production Jamie Reynolds: "Working with the USTA and the players, we believe on-court, mid-match interviews add texture to the presentation and insights for viewers" (ESPN.com, 8/31). Vandeweghe said, "Any innovation, it is a positive. So I see no harm in it. I just thought of it as -- being a sports fan myself -- getting insight into an athlete’s head" (BLOOMBERG.com, 9/1). ESPN’s Chris Evert said, “It certainly adds spice to the coverage and it’s great for the TV viewers. ... Most sports do it. Tennis has always been a little behind the times. It’s been a little more traditional.” ESPN's Cliff Drysdale: “We’re catching up.” Evert later said, “I hope more players make themselves accessible to us because it’s a great idea all the way around” (“U.S. Open,” ESPN2, 8/31).
FIRST SERVE: ESPN averaged a 0.7 overnight rating for U.S. Open coverage yesterday from 1:00-6:00pm ET, up 75% from the comparable period last year. ESPN2 from 6:00-7:00pm drew a 0.6, up 100%, while the net's coverage from 7:00-11:45pm, which included Serena Williams' quick win over Vitalia Diatchenko at 8:00pm, drew a 0.9 overnight, up 80% (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
