Nine Tennis Coverage

According to Wikipedia, during construction it was known as Show Court Arena.

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I think another court is now called Show Court Arena? One of the old Show Courts, one is now 1573 Arena.

There used to be 3, which were as the name suggests, larger than the maze of outside courts on the north-west quadrant of Melbourne Park in the distance of Nine’s 2019-2023 main studio position. That TV networks would still use including commentary, something you don’t really see with the smaller outside courts unless a local player is there and a network decides to call it remotely.

In the old days, Margaret Court Arena was the main show court, before converting to a premium ticketed stadium. Before switching with Vodafone Arena>Hisense>John Cain where that became open to ground pass holders.

edit 6:05pm edt

Unfortunate for Nine’s 6pm and night Aus Open lead-ins, could be the opposite of last night’s big results:

DAY 9: AUSTRALIAN OPEN BROADCAST SCHEDULE

Alex De Minaur’s charge towards the finals will headline Australian Open Day 9 in huge night session from 7.00pm, live and free on the 9Network.

Facing America’s Alex Michelsen on Rod Laver Arena, the man they call ‘Demon’ is hell bent on making his first ever quarterfinals appearance at his home Slam. In their last meeting on clay at the French Open De Minaur prevailed in straight sets.

Before De Minaur is on court in the night session, women’s world no.2 Iga Swiatek faces Germany’s Eva Lys, who had her bags packed for home after losing in the qualifying rounds.

Lys claimed a lucky loser entry following a player withdrawal and now finds herself in the fourth round of a Grand Slam, the first time a women’s lucky loser has done so at the Australian Open.

Men’s world no.1 Jannik Sinner will take on Holger Rune during the day session on Channel 9. While it’s a mix of youth and experience when 38-year-old french veteran Gael Monfils meets rising American star Ben Shelton.

Throughout the 2025 Australian Open, fans will have the ability to watch every point of every match, at any time live, free and on any device in HD on 9Now.

John Millman previews De Minaur v Michelsen on The Morning Serve ahead of Day 9

Watch on @wwos YouTube and 9Now daily from 6.00am AEDT

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Massive playout error on 9Go! right now in Melbourne.

Included test pattern and grey screen flickers and no sound, as tennis switched back to main channel at 7pm, went to a promo/ad break, then a tennis feed came on by mistake. Had Djokovic and Lehecka walking onto Rod Laver Arena, coinciding with main channel going to an ad before the match. Correct program Dr Dolittle 2 movie finally started late at 7:09pm. Oops!

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Sylvia Jeffreys looks to have gone back to Sydney, with week 2 of the Aussie Open now underway, less matches and therefore 9Gem feed scheduled to finish at 8pm edt. Nick McArdle still hosting, working later. Gem feed will conclude at the end of D9 tomorrow night I think.

But this Zverev match is shaping into a battle, it won’t be over until well after 8.

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TJ’s viral moment not going away

Novak Djokovic on snubbing on-court interview: "I’d like to just clarify the reason why it ws not conducted on the court … a couple of days ago the famous sports journalist who works for official broadcaster Nine here in Austraia made a mockery of Serbian fans and also made insulting and offensive comments towards me. And since then he chose not to issue any public apology, neither did Nine. Since they’re official broadcasters I chose not to give interviews for Channel Nine. I have nothing against Jim Courier or the Australian public. It’s unfortunate, I chose to say something to the crowd but obviously wasn’t the time and situation to explain what I’m doing right now. I leave it to Nine to handle this the way they see fit.”

9 wil have to address it now or he won’t be giving any interviews after a win

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The thing to note though is the on-court interview isn’t technically for Channel 9 but the world feed for the benefit of all broadcasters.

Having said that, suspect we’ll be seeing a few apologies tomorrow (perhaps even before the broadcast ends tonight)…

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What a global disaster, great start for Nine’s ~$500m deal :exploding_head:

Wonder if there’s a chance Matt Stanton (or would it not be that high up) might stand down TJ for a day (or longer) too?

https://x.com/maxlaughton/status/1880950400267997428?t=Qcwo5RvIEadM9SAgPE7hMw&s=19

https://x.com/maxlaughton/status/1880944169998492081?t=Qcwo5RvIEadM9SAgPE7hMw&s=19

https://x.com/BenRothenberg/status/1880949290388070484?t=Qcwo5RvIEadM9SAgPE7hMw&s=19

https://x.com/pavyg/status/1880942134679015604?t=Qcwo5RvIEadM9SAgPE7hMw&s=19

https://x.com/asud683385/status/1880948514349588562?t=Qcwo5RvIEadM9SAgPE7hMw&s=19

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I think it’s very charitable of Novak to describe TJ as a ‘famous’ sports journalist. :stuck_out_tongue:

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https://x.com/thetennisletter/status/1880950739423608948?s=46

It’s going more viral than the original video. 9 will definitely have something to say tmr.

I wonder what the Sunday footy show guys will do with this when AFL starts in March. They love making fun of ‘Chompers’ and regularly plays or brings up the famous Osaka clip and other mishaps. Maybe this one is too controversial

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Top headline on news.com.au too

https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/australian-open/novak-djokovics-channel-9-boycott-after-tony-jones-remarks/news-story/12ddb140feba8d8a5b19656200cf4d1d

TJ needs to be stood down for this, while not as serious as what Alex Cullen is going through at the moment, this is embarrassing from the host broadcaster and as mentioned above, the post-match interview goes out on the world feed so they’ve deprived the entire Tennis world of Novak’s insight to the match.

I was in attendance for tonight, paid very good money to watch the great man play but I can’t say I feel ripped off for not hearing his words after the match, I look forward to whatever the repercussions are from Nine’s point of view but TJ’s time should well and truely be up, he’s a weak link to the network.

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This video gives international viewers at least American viewers context about TJ but it’s not a good look for 9 especially since they are the Host broadcaster

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Nine Entertainment Co are either going to take this very seriously or not at all. I fear if the former what that will mean.

The recent culture review, actions and Alex Cullen do come to mind… Novak going very public and setting fire to the international news cycle does not help.

Very embarrassing for 9 as it’s now mentioned to the whole world about them the host broadcaster not doing anything immediately after his comments. I wonder if Novak will be happy with just an apology or if he will push for a bigger punishment (probably not being sacked but maybe stood down for the rest of the Aus open & maybe like him refusing interview with TJ for the future Aus open & other tournaments like Wimbledon etc?)

https://x.com/djokernole/status/1880961271459352755?s=46

Novak posted a video about it to his Twitter & Insta story - same thing he said in the press conference.

Yeah this isn’t going away without an apology from both 9 & TJ. Maybe even something more than that given global interest now

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To be fair it would be a absolute joke if they didn’t come out and say “we are taking this seriously” considering what happened with Alex Cullen.

Certainly not a good look for Nine at the moment. I wonder what we will see at 10am with the pre-show. An apology from Tony Jones. Will he be stood down until it is sorted out?

In an ideal world, Danika or someone else who’s equally competent would be hosting and have an apology at the ready. TJ needs a spell.

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I doubt TJ will be hosting tomorrow’s morning session, wouldn’t be surprised if they slot in one of 9Gem’s like Nick McArdle temporarily (seeing as that feed wraps by tomorrow night I think)

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