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[vector_icon icon=”fas fa-microphone”] Match Recap from Announcer Andy Taylor, Voice of the US Open
Soares and Pavic capture first Grand Slam title as a team
Fantastic Doubles Championship. First-time Slam Final for both tandems. High stakes. Even higher quality of play. Steady experience in week-2 of Slams proved the advantage, as Bruno Soares and Mate Pavic lifted their first Grand Slam trophy together.
Set-1 deadlocked from ball-up. 45-minutes later, Nikola Mektic – the reigning Australian Open Mixed Doubles Champion with Barbora Krejcikova – served to force the inevitable tiebreak. But once Soares and Pavic got it to deuce, the pressure tickled nerves. Two points later, after 50-minutes of intensity, Soares and Pavic earned the opener with a break.
The second started with back-to-back extended deuce rallies. Pavic and Koolhof both held. But in game-6, Wesley – competing in his first Grand Slam Final – fell behind love-40. With the margins so tight, love-40 holes are bottomless caverns. At 15-40, Pavic executed a flawless winning lob, essentially sealing the victory.
Bruno Soares. 6-time Grand Slam Champion:
- 2020 US Open Men’s Doubles Champion / Partner: Mate Pavic
- 2016 US Open Men’s Doubles Champion / Partner: Jamie Murray
- 2016 Australian Open Men’s Doubles Champion / Partner: Jamie Murray
- 2016 Australian Open Mixed Doubles Champion / Partner: Elena Vesnina
- 2014 US Open Mixed Doubles Champion / Partner: Sania Mirza
- 2012 US Open Mixed Doubles Champion / Partner: Ekaterina Makarova
Mate Pavic. 4-time Grand Slam Champion:
- 2020 US Open Men’s Doubles Champion / Partner: Bruno Soares
- 2018 Australian Open Men’s Doubles Champion / Partner: Oliver Marach
- 2018 Australian Open Mixed Doubles Champion / Partner: Gabriela Dabrowski
- 2016 US Open Mixed Doubles Champion / Partner: Laura Siegemund
Bruno Soares -27- (BRA) Mate Pavic -17- (CRO) | Announcer Introduction
This tandem defeated 2017 US Open Champions Horia Tecau and Jules Rojer to reach their first Grand Slam Final together. From Brazil and Croatia – 2016 Doubles Champion Bruno Soares and 2016 Mixed Doubles Champion Mate Pavic.
- FF — W | [8] Nikola Mektic -22- (CRO) Wesley Koolhof -16- (NED) | Score: 7-5, 6-3
- SF — W | Jean-Julien Rojer -21- (NED) Horia Tecau -20- (ROU) | Score: 6-4, 7-5
- QF — W | Neal Skupski -26- (GBR) Jamie Murray -24- (GBR) | Score: 6-2, 7-6(4)
- R2 — W | Jack Sock -128- (USA) Jackson Withrow -76- (USA) | Score: 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-4
- R1 — W | [5] Marcel Granollers -15- (ESP) Horacio Zeballos -04- (ARG) | Score: 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
[8] Nikola Mektic -22- (CRO) Wesley Koolhof -16- (NED) | Announcer Introduction
The #8-seeds, in the Semi’s they defeated reigning Australian Open Champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury – and are also making their Grand Slam Final debut as a team. From Croatia and the Netherlands – 2018 Mixed Doubles Finalist Nikola Mektic and Wesley Koolhof.
- FF — L | Bruno Soares -27- (BRA) Mate Pavic -17- (CRO) | Score: 5-7, 3-6
- SF — W | [3] Rajeev Ram -06- (USA) Joe Salisbury -05- (GBR) | Score: 7-6(3), 6-3
- QF — W | Sander Gille -44- (BEL) Joran Vliegen -36- (BEL) | Score: 7-6(6), 6-3
- R2 — W | Simone Bolelli -74- (ITA) Maximo Gonzalez -43- (ARG) | Score: 6-4, 6-3
- R1 — W | Divij Sharan -58- (IND) Nikola Cacic -55- (SRB) | Score: 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
A New Reality | 2020 US Open Tennis Championships
In late February and early March, announcer Andy Taylor compèred two of the final professional tennis events before the global coronavirus pandemic put the skids on the 2020 season. In Doha, he hosted Aryna Sabalenka’s relentless run to the Qatar Total Open title. Then in Honolulu, he emceed Team USA’s Davis Cup Qualifier victory over Uzbekistan. Including Bob and Mike Bryan’s final professional match.
As U.S. coronavirus cases continued to mount, the day following Team USA’s 4-0 victory, all professional sports came to a grinding halt. Over the next five months, as Americans stayed home and “socially distanced,” nearly 6-million contracted the illness. Tragically, over 180-thousand perished. Worldwide, COVID-19 killed over 840-thousand and sickened 25-million (at the time of this writing).
New York hosts the resumption of the 2020 tennis season
Early on, New York City was the epicenter of COVID’s outbreak. The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center became prime real estate for New York’s coordinated pandemic response. Additionally, the state used Louis Armstrong Stadium as a warehouse to pack meals for patients, front-line workers and students dependent on the city’s school lunch program.
In late July, after New York “flattened the curve,” Governor Cuomo green-lighted the USTA’s plans to resume the 2020 tennis season in Flushing. Without fans. Without qualifying. Rather, the Western & Southern Open moved from Cincinnati to the grounds of the US Open. Furthermore, the USTA implemented strict COVID-19 testing policies. It limited the number in each player’s entourage. Additionally, it created a protective “Bubble” for all tournament participants at nearby hotels and on-site.
Announcer Andy Taylor | 19th US Open Tennis Championships
After a five month pause, with the coronavirus “politicized” and still spreading unchecked through portions of the population, Andy was hesitant when asked to be a part of the sport’s return. However, after carefully considering the USTA’s extensive health and safety protocols, he soon realized the US Open could in fact be one of the safest environments to avoid COVID’s spread.
Masks are mandatory. For crew, testing occurs every fourth day. To ensure best broadcast quality, the USTA understood that Arthur Ashe Stadium’s announcer would need to work without a mask. Therefore, they isolated Andy in his own booth. Thus, keeping production team members free from aerosols emitted during player introductions.
Rather than fly, Andy drove to Flushing. He uses his own vehicle to shuttle back and forth from the hotel to the venue, which limits his exposure to others. Additionally, this allowed Andy to bring his own hot plate and coffee machine, completely eliminating the need for others to bring him meals and supplies. Essentially, the Voice of the US Open is working from a bubble within “The Bubble.” Responsibly limiting contact with colleagues and players as much as humanly possible.
A new Grand Slam Global Pandemic Presentation
With the global emphasis on social distancing to avoid further outbreaks of COVID-19, the world of sport production is reinventing “the show” by harnessing new technologies that have emerged over the past decade. As always, the core goal is to meet fans where they are.
In other words, with fans exclusively watching on television – or on-the-go through mobile devices – the 2020 US Open “stadium show” is now geared toward the camera, rather than the ticket holder. This year, Andy and the stadium production team are working closely with ESPN to integrate the broadcast and stadium presentations. Instead of narrating player introductions exclusively for fans on site, intros and all aspects of the stadium show are now part of the broadcast product streamed to fans worldwide.
The true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention.
Jowett | English translation of Plato’s “Republic”
Live sport presentation is a brave new world. Through perseverance and bold experimentation, the US Open continues to innovate; determined to feed each tennis fan’s hunger after five months of the world’s new and humbling collective-reality.
