In June, ESPN will cover all four days of Ladies' and Gentlemen's qualifying for The Championships, Wimbledon for the first time, with all-day action from one of the grass courts at the Bank of England Sports Centre in Roehampton, not far from Wimbledon and the All England Lawn Tennis Club. Qualifying will take place Monday, June 26 - Thursday, June 29, beginning each day at 6 a.m. ET with four matches scheduled per day on ESPN3 on WatchESPN and the ESPN App. Depending on scheduling and other circumstances, there is the possibility of adding matches to one of ESPN's linear television networks.
"If you look at our history with Wimbledon and our unprecedented scheduling approach to The Championships, it should be no surprise we were very interested when The Club approached us with this opportunity to expand our relationship with their brand," said Burke Magnus,
ESPN executive vice president, programming and scheduling. "For players, the opportunity to make the field of 128 is paramount and for qualifiers it may be the chance of a lifetime. We look forward to presenting all the compelling storylines from the qualifiers, leading into our comprehensive coverage of The Championships beginning July 3."
Last Friday, May 19, Maria Sharapova announced she would enter the qualifying for Wimbledon, in lieu of a ranking sufficient for the main draw. The 2004 Wimbledon champion recently returned from a 15-month suspension.
Qualifying for Wimbledon has never before been a ticketed event, nor produced for distribution. AELTC will produce the coverage for a global audience with its graphics and commentators.
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