The Inaugural United Cup Final was held today. USA beat Italy.
The telecast was to finish at 11pm. Coverage finished at 9.56pm aedt. It was followed by an Australian Open Live on Nine ad. And “48 Hours” (factual show) is now airing.
While the Adel Int’l Final went until nearly 10:30pm, following a thriller with returning star Novak Djokovic (who had a comeback win) over young Sebastian Korda (son of former champ Petr).
“War of the Worlds” was meant to start at 9pm, came on nearly an hour and a half late. Expect 9Go! codings to be wrong.
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Main channel should have aired that game after the United Cup final finished, instead of The First 48.
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Disappointed the Adelaide international was bumped for the United Cup especially with Djokovic playing. More people will want to watch Djokovic instead
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Most of the commentary of Nine’s tennis coverage last night reflected in the ratings. Nine’s main channel share was only just above night of the AFL primetime grand final in 2021.
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I’d been wondering why they hadn’t done it some other nights either, I’m guessing TA requested / contracted United Cup (previously ATP Cup) for main channel. And/or could’ve been for max exposure to grow the new event, as well as general promotion ahead of the AO.
The UC did best, naturally, when the Aussies were playing in prime time, one “night” session was in high-200k broadcast metro (but as previously mentioned individual matches would’ve been higher as the coding is very lengthy).
Looks like the 2023 Hobart International, starting today at 12pm aedt, is only on Stan Sport. Possibly because 9Now reflects broadcast and it’s not on broadcast. AO being an exception to that. That’s disappointing, but great bonus if you’re a subscriber to Stan Sport I guess.
Adelaide International “2” and Aus Open Qualifying are however on 9Now (all courts), the former also on brosdcast (now moved to 9Gem).
I think this was it. But I’m not sure team tennis really appeals especially to a neutral viewer. If Australia is in it, great. If not it’s a largely pointless watch, hard to get invested in Poland vs USA or whatever like you might with individuals.
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Agreed, I think deep down TA and Nine no doubt had high hopes with Kyrgios and Tomljanovic - both obviously pulled out to focus on the Aus Open (or whatever official reason they provided be it genuine injury or not - which is also fair enough to an extent I guess).
How did we end up with two Adelaide tournaments over two weeks?
Question is, will it be televised?
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Yeah - and TA is really eager (probably in conjunction with Nine) to make tennis an all-summer event rather than a fortnight, so providing some context to the build up events makes sense but I’m not sure teams tennis works or at least in that format.
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Wow. I’m a huge tennis fan, and I didn’t realise that there was even an “Adelaide International 2” going on. There you go, you learn something new everyday. lol.
The ratings for the United Cup Final last night ended up being a fizzer for Nine. The ratings for the Adelaide Final went well for 9Go.
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Australian Open presenting roster, 16 January 2023
Channel 9: Day session (11am-4pm): Tony Jones, Afternoon session (4pm-6pm): Roz Kelly, Night session (7pm-12am): James Bracey
9Gem: Day session (11am-6pm): Emma Lawrence, Night session (7pm-11pm): Seb Costello and Nick McArdle
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Info on Adelaide International 2:
Nine’s Wide World of Sports will turn up the heat on the summer of tennis when the world’s best square off at the two-week Adelaide International, available live and free on the 9Network and 9Now from January 1-14.
In Adelaide International 1, eight of the world’s top 10 men and women will be on court for the first week of competition at The Drive.
Twenty-one-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray will feature, alongside women’s world No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka and former world No. 1 and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka.
In Adelaide International 2, more of the world’s best are on show including Australia’s top-ranked men’s player, Nick Kyrgios, who will use the tournament to rev up his 2023 Australian Open preparation.
This will be the first time Kyrgios plays an ATP 250 event in Adelaide, where he can expect tough opposition from world No. 8 Andrey Rublev and Sebastian Korda in the men’s singles.
South Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis will also line up for Adelaide International 2. Kokkinakis, who won his first ATP singles title at the Adelaide International earlier this year and then went on to win his first Grand Slam doubles title at the Australian Open, is looking forward to starting the new year at home.
The second week of the tournament will see the world’s top four-ranked women – Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur, Jessica Pegula and Caroline Garcia – line up with 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
Swiatek, a three-time major winner, took the world No. 1 ranking from Ash Barty and has since dominated the women’s tour. Her 37-match winning streak after Barty’s retirement is the best since Martina Hingis in 1997.
Live coverage will be hosted by Nick McArdle and Brett Phillips, with matches available on the 9Network across 9Go! and 9Gem, or to stream anywhere, anytime on 9Now.
Nine kicks off Summer of Tennis with new podcast AO: The Happy Slam
To celebrate the Summer of Tennis 2023, Nine has today announced the launch of its brand new podcast, Australian Open: The Happy Slam, produced by 9Podcasts with Nine’s Wide World of Sports.
From the creators of the highly successful Rugby League podcast “Stories of Origin”, Australian Open: The Happy Slam features an all-star line-up as impressive as the tournament, with some of the best and most loved players from Australian tennis history sharing their recollections on how they helped make the AO what it is today.
Served up in this six-part series hosted by Channel9 sports presenter, James Bracey, listeners will be given front row access to untold stories from Pat Rafter, Dylan Alcott, Jim Courier, Jelena Dokic, Ajla Tomljanovic and Todd Woodbridge.
James Bracey said: “The Australian Open has become the world leader in grand slams. It’s an exclamation mark on both the Australian summer and the sporting calendar. It was a personal highlight to find out how much the Australian Open has impacted and shaped the careers of our favourite players, and the impact they have had on the tournament itself.”
The full six-episode schedule that will air in the lead up to the AO is below, then as the tournament gets into full swing, the podcast will feature daily tournament updates and insights from legendary sports commentator, Craig Gabriel. Released each morning, the daily update from Australian Open: The Happy Slam will review the highs and lows of the previous day’s play and preview the excitement coming up in the day ahead.
- Episode 1 – Pat Rafter: The Aussie Icon
- Episode 2 – Dylan Alcott: The Game Changer
- Episode 3 – Jelena Dokic: The Fighter
- Episode 4 – Todd Woodbridge: The Tennis Lifer
- Episode 5 – Jim Courier: The Adopted Aussie
- Episode 6 – Ajla Tomljanovic: The Future
Australian Open: The Happy Slam is available to stream on all leading podcast platforms.
Listen Now:
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I think Kyrgios withdrew from Adelaide iirc.
Strange that Nine only put up an official press release for the Happy Slam podcast today, given the entire series was released 12 days ago. It was also promoted during 3AW’s Wide World of Sports show in the past two weeks.
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Is Nine showing the Final of the Hobart International on 9 in some capacity? Or is it all on Stan Sports?
I think all on Stan Sports, but every match also able to be streamed on wta.tv, the WTA streaming service.