|
MUMBAI: UK pubcaster
the BBC has announced that record, nine-time Wimbledon Women's champion Martina
Navratilova and former World no.4 and US Open finalist Greg Rusedski are the latest
recruits to the BBC's television commentary team for this year's Wimbledon Championships.
Navratilova
and Rusedski join viewers favourite John McEnroe who returns this year, alongside
fellow Wimbledon champions, three-time victor Boris Becker and two-time winner
Jimmy Connors, who will be combining his TV work with coaching Andy Roddick.
Also back this
year is Virginia Wade, celebrating the 30th anniversary of her win over Betty
Stove in the 1977 Wimbledon Women's Singles Final during the Queen's Silver Jubilee.
Tracy Austin
also returns for a fifth year behind the microphone. A winner of the mixed-doubles
title at Wimbledon with her brother John in 1980, Tracy also won the US Open twice,
in 1979 and 1981. With
live and exclusive coverage beginning Monday 25 June on BBC One and BBC Two, BBC
Radio Five Live, interactive through BBCi, and bbc.co.uk/sport, you can follow
all the action from SW19 wherever you are. Once
again, Sue Barker will present the BBC's live coverage from the All England Club,
with John Inverdale fronting the nightly highlights programme, Today At Wimbledon.
Britain's Davis
Cup captain John Lloyd also returns and joins the regular team of Andrew Castle,
Annabel Croft, Pat Cash, Peter Fleming, Michael Stich, Mark Cox, Sam Smith and
Liz Smylie all adding their expertise to the BBC's coverage.
David Mercer,
Barry Davies, Simon Reed and Chris Bradnam will also be back in action in the
commentary box and will be joined by Andy Murray's former coach, Mark Petchey.
Adding colour
and atmosphere as roving reporters will be Hazel Irvine, Garry Richardson, Phil
Jones and Rishi Persad. The
BBC will again be using the unique ball tracking system, Hawk-Eye.
Jason Goodall
will be giving viewers an in-depth analysis of the intricacies of a players' game
and highlighting patterns of play. In
addition to this the umpires on Centre and No.1 Courts will, for the first time,
use Hawk-Eye as an official umpiring tool to assist with contentious line call
decisions and illustrate whether or not a ball was in or out. Players will receive
three unsuccessful appeals per set plus an additional one during a tie-break.
Wimbledon will
be broadcast in High Definition (HD) for the entire two weeks of the tournament.
HD coverage will be available on the trial BBC HD Channel to digital satellite
and cable viewers who have HD set-top boxes and televisions. BBC
Radio Five Live will bring listeners all the action live from Wimbledon with Simon
Mayo and Clare Balding presenting coverage daily. The
interactive TV service will be once again offering digital viewers a whole host
of extra features. In addition to terrestrial coverage, satellite and cable viewers
have the chance to choose live action from up to five courts of play, and Freeview
viewers have access to four extra courts, plus all the latest news, scores and
results. The
service will also include text pages offering news, live scores and results. The
interactive TV service will also replay Today At Wimbledon throughout the night
and early morning for viewers to catch up on the day's play. |